Louisiana Homeland Security Under Indictment
Captain Ed reports links to an LA Times story reporting that several officials of the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security were under indictment before Katrina hit. According to the LAT:
"For instance, a Nov. 30, 2004, report by Tonda L. Hadley, a director in the Denton field office, examined $40.5 million sent to the Louisiana agency, mostly for the Hazard Mitigation program. The report found that the state's emergency office did not have receipts to account for 97% of the $15.4 million it had awarded to subcontractors on 19 major projects."
They also note:
"The day before the report was issued, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana obtained an indictment against Michael L. Brown, deputy director of the Louisiana office of emergency preparedness. (Brown is no relation to former FEMA director Michael D. Brown who resigned this week.) Louisiana's deputy director oversaw the state's Hazard Mitigation program. Brown was charged with conspiring to obstruct the inspector general's investigation and for making a false statement to a federal investigator. Michael C. Appe, another senior state agency official, also was charged with obstructing the audit. Months earlier, Appe had been appointed as head of a "surge team" to review projects funded with FEMA money. The team's mission was to help spot abuses."
As could be expected, whenever there are millions of dollars floating around, the scum bags will come out of the woodwork. What can we expect will occur to the fortunes in public and private funds about to descend on the Gulf coast.
"For instance, a Nov. 30, 2004, report by Tonda L. Hadley, a director in the Denton field office, examined $40.5 million sent to the Louisiana agency, mostly for the Hazard Mitigation program. The report found that the state's emergency office did not have receipts to account for 97% of the $15.4 million it had awarded to subcontractors on 19 major projects."
They also note:
"The day before the report was issued, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana obtained an indictment against Michael L. Brown, deputy director of the Louisiana office of emergency preparedness. (Brown is no relation to former FEMA director Michael D. Brown who resigned this week.) Louisiana's deputy director oversaw the state's Hazard Mitigation program. Brown was charged with conspiring to obstruct the inspector general's investigation and for making a false statement to a federal investigator. Michael C. Appe, another senior state agency official, also was charged with obstructing the audit. Months earlier, Appe had been appointed as head of a "surge team" to review projects funded with FEMA money. The team's mission was to help spot abuses."
As could be expected, whenever there are millions of dollars floating around, the scum bags will come out of the woodwork. What can we expect will occur to the fortunes in public and private funds about to descend on the Gulf coast.
posted by Joe Hogan at
6:52 PM
