Follow His Money

Forget Sen. Vitter’s Penis: Follow His Money

Local contributors. Bollinger, Chance.

Didn't Al Gore take heat for using his phone?

US Senate Computer Used For Louisiana David Vitter Talking Points

More catching up.

I had heard rumors about this story shortly after Katrina, but I don't think anyone around here had any idea how much aid was turned away by Bush and the Feds.

Blanco and Landrieu issued statements -- which will go unheard by FEMA, and ignored by those who continue to blame Blanco for everything that went wrong after Katrina.

Apparently the Homeland Security Committee of the Senate is going to investigate, but the chair is Joe Liebermann, so I don't expect it to accomplish much.

UPDATE: Landrieu goes after Rice on this issue. Good on her! P.S. The article also says that Landrieu's subcommittee is going to call ICF to account on May 24. Their top executives have just gotten massive bonuses for doing a terrible job getting money to people whose houses have been destroyed.

Lege questions ICF competence to handle Road Home

2theadvocate.com | AP News

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Lawmakers are looking for legal ways to oust the contractor hired by Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration to hand out recovery grants in Louisiana's "Road Home" program.

On Friday, both the House and Senate sent the governor's office similar, unanimous resolutions, directing her staff to fire ICF International Inc. - though lawmakers acknowledged they don't have the authority to order that. However, they said the resolution shows how dissatisfied they are with ICF's slow doling out of grants.

I have some posts archived somewhere that questioned whether they could do the job. I'll see if I can post links later.

Update: This article discusses their contract, and a comment cites former DHS official Michael Byrne as a key figure in gaining the contract.

This article from June 25 indicates a few facts about ICF and has some interesting links to articles about their less than spectacular performance in other projects. A comment by someone claiming to be a former employee predicts that the company will not be able to handle the contract. His/her comment: "So look for this contract to flail and fail."

This article is about the aftermath of Hurricane Charlie, which ICF was contracted to handle.

Republicans kill raise plan for teachers

Tom Tate, lobbyist for the Louisiana Association of Educators, blamed House Republicans for taking a political shot at Blanco that cost public schoolteachers a $2,100 pay raise.

“I believe that, to a person, they were after Gov. Blanco,” Tate said.

“After the session, when Republican lawmakers go back to their hometowns, I think they are going to have some answering to do,” he said.

Blanco said her proposed raise could have moved the pay of public schoolteachers to the regional average, which has been a goal for years.