[Release]Statement on Hurricane Katrina Grant Program
Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman
Wayne Dowdy issued this statement following a news story in The
Clarion-Ledger looking at expenses related to the Mississippi Homeowners
Assistance Grant Program. Every Mississippian Ĉ especially those on the
Coast still trying hard to recover from Hurricane Katrina should be
appalled by the apparent questionable use of money that could have gone
directly to people suffering from the worst natural disaster in our
nationȂs history. Haley Barbour must be held responsible for this
reprehensible action. As the stateĂs chief executive officer, he has direct
control over the Mississippi Development Authority by appointing its
executive director and, therefore, is responsible for the pathetic way the
Homeowners Grant Program has been managed.
First Barbour and the MDA
dragged their feet on the program, waiting until late 2006 and early 2007
before speeding up the award process. Then the MDA hired two state
legislators Ĉ including one from the Mississippi Gulf Coast to close the
grants, enabling them to earn up to $1.2 million at the expense of people
who have suffered so much. And now this. Unbelievable. ȄHaley Barbour loves
to boast across the state about all the money hes brought to Mississippi
post-Katrina, about how we have a chance to rebuild the Coast as never
before. But how can Haley boast when we hear reports about the pathetically
managed Homeowners Grant program? And how can he boast when hundreds of
people continue to live in FEMA trailers almost two years after the storm?‰
###
Mississippi Homeowner Grant Program Fact Sheet
JACKSON (Tuesday, June 19, 2007) Four months after Hurricane Katrina
plowed through South Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana in August 2005,
the U.S. Congress approved $5 billion in relief to help Mississippi in its
recovery.
One of the key components of the stateȂs recovery program was the
Homeowners Assistance Grant Program. Since then, the $3 billion program has
been fraught with problems and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders
of Republican Gov. Haley Barbour and his Republican allies.
LetȂs look at the issue closer:
Congress approved $5 billion in Hurricane Katrina aid for Mississippi in
December 2005—not long after the storm struck South Mississippi and
Southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29.
About $3 billion of the money was used for the Homeowners Assistance
Grant Program, designed to financially help home owners who flooded because
of Hurricane Katrina even though they lived outside the federal flood zone.
Homeowners who qualified for the grant money could receive up to $150,000
to help them with their losses from the storm.
The grant program is administered by the Mississippi Development
Authority, the states chief economic development agency whose executive
director is appointed by the governor. Barbour, therefore, has direct
control over the agency.
Democrats in the Mississippi House of Representatives supported
legislative oversight of the grant program. But Barbour balked and
staunchly opposed legislative oversight; House Bill 1318 died in the
Senate.
While Barbour and Republicans balked at oversight of the grant program,
Barbour spent his time pushing for oversight of the Partnership for a
Healthy Mississippi. Something doesn‚t sound right.
This is another example of how Barbour says one thing but does something
else, or, as our TV ad from earlier this year put it so succinctly, Haley
is two-faced on important issues.
Republican state Sen. Tommy Robertson of Moss Point and Republican state
Rep. Jim Beckett of Bruce formed a company and won a $1.2 million bid from
the state to closeĉ Katrina grants. They hired Republican state Rep. Jim
Simpson of Gulfport to help with the work.
Robertson chairs the Senate Finance Committee and single-handedly killed
a bill this year to reduce the sales tax on groceries and raise the tax on
cigarettes. Robertson did so at Barbours request.
Barbour asked Robertson to kill the grocery tax-cigarette tax swap.
Robertson received a $1.2 million state contract a year earlier from an
agency Barbour controls. Is there a connection? Something doesn‚t seem
right.
The state Ethics Commission in a split decision rejected a complaint
filed against Robertson and company alleging that they violated state
ethics laws by profiting off the Katrina grants.
Robertson and Simpson are Coast residents who are profiting off the
misfortune of fellow residents.
As of Oct. 11, 2006, 1,300 checks had been written to Coast residents who
applied for grants through the program. At that point, more than 17,000
people had applied.
The MDA had been dragging its feet in awarding grants to storm victims;
they speeded the process only after news stories began to appear in The
Mississippi Press newspaper in Pascagoula.
As of June 14, 2007, the MDA’s Web site reports that 13,236 grants have
been paid to 15,320 eligible applicants.
Posted by kate at 01:03 PM in Children & Families, Legislature, Releases | Email this entry
Comments:
As agreed upon with officials from Tulane University and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, principal investigators from these organizations may submit competing applications directly to NIH (see the specified address listed below) without the signature of the authorized organizational official (AOO), until January 1, 2006. The application must include a cover letter stating that it is from an organization that has been directly affected by Hurricane Katrina (e.g., 642-524 organizations located in New Orleans), as well as the name and signature of the investigator who has been displaced by this event. NIH recommends that the application be sent to NIH via a method that allows for tracking.
Posted by on 03/03 at 11:54 PM | #
