Periodically the community here is swept by rumors of elected officials being arrested etc related to double-dealing with federal recovery funds. The rumors are based on observations of the FBI periodically visiting the local courthouse and certain official actions taken against the former Road Manager, Roger Ladner and his wife Sharon.
The bottom line is the local Board of Supervisors over delegated authority to then road manager Roger Ladner and according to the Feds, Ladner and his wife then proceeded to steal over a cool million of FEMA cleanup funds. Now the Ladners are paying the piper as they were indicted last week by the federal grand jury. Yesterday they pleaded Not Guilty and now have a March 5th trial date.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this folks.
sop
We pushed to make all the Public Assistance 100% federal funds in Katrinaland. That was one thing that Clyburn and Pelosi carried back to DC from the meetings with local officials in LA and MS – that the locals could not afford to pay a share of the costs of so many projects. The Bush Administration insisted that locals had to pay a ahare but Clyburn and Pelosi forced them to accept 100% federal as part of the 2007 supplemental appropriations bill for wars and disasters.
Unfortunately, once local projects became all federal funds, the local and state governments stopped caring how much anything cost or how many people skimmed a share. The system is set up for the cost share to be the thing that keeps the locals honest. FEMA is not organized or staffed to manage the projects without that cost-share reining in the local officials. FEMA's fall back is to become compliance zealots but they were stupid about deciding priorities. They nit-picked and delayed important projects over minor things but let other things pile up unnecessary costs with no questions asked. Most of the local officials were never satisfied unless they had a blank check from the federal government with no accountability or oversight.
Excellent background on the why for the match requirement and you are right about money not being an object when the local government had no skin in the game.
It wasn't just local folks either. There were lots of politically connected Florida developers that ventured here too. I always wondered about that connection and figured a Jeb Bush-George Bush-Boss Hogg sort of alliance was made. Some of those guys got sheared.
You get the feeling from seeing the WLOX video and the pictures in the Sun Herald someone is blowing smoke up Ladner's ass on what he is facing just like Mark St Pierre. The general feeling is no County Board of Supervisors will give up the kind of control to an employee required for such graft without receiving a brown paper bag stuffed with money in return. It is that notion that has underpinned the local rumor mill since 2006 though I'll repeat there is absolutely no evidence in the public realm today suggesting that is what happened.
I know this, if Ladner and his family did this only among themselves they should look at what happened to the Jeffersons in NOLA for a hint at what is coming at them.
sop