How do you spell futility? FEMA
How do you spell futility? FEMA
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published June 17, 2006
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was too slow in bringing relief after Hurricane Katrina. That was established a long time ago.
But the agency also managed to send as much as $1.4 billion to storm swindlers. Scam artists spent federal relief funds on jewelry, Caribbean vacations, pro football tickets, pornographic videos, divorce lawyer fees and a sex-change operation.
And FEMA's excuse for getting swindled is that ... it was in a rush to provide relief.
To think some people say Americans have become too cynical about their government.
Government auditors say that $1.4 billion represents 16 percent of all the federal money that FEMA distributed--money that was supposed to provide emergency food, shelter and clothing but was misused. This wasn't an occasional lapse.
In testimony before a House subcommittee on Wednesday, FEMA officials defended their efforts. In their rush to get money distributed, FEMA officials appear to have run on an honor system, even when it became apparent that some applicants were hardly honorable. Some 173 prison inmates, for example, received $10 million in expedited rental assistance payments, auditors for the Government Accountability Office auditors told the House. The inmates used phony addresses and Social Security numbers to pose as Katrina victims and routed the checks or ATM cards to friends and relatives. Other scammers claimed cemeteries and vacant lots as their home addresses.
Hurricane Katrina was an extraordinary event with a chaotic aftermath. This was not, as everybody knows, as simple as cleaning up the confetti on LaSalle Street after the White Sox World Series parade. But you have to wonder if FEMA had been assigned that job, whether there'd be a LaSalle Street left standing today.
One bright spot for FEMA: The Hooters restaurant chain has offered to reimburse the feds for a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne that someone bought with emergency relief money.
And there still may be time to catch some of the Katrina flimflam folks. Auditors spotted an all-inclusive Caribbean beach resort vacation trip purchased with Katrina cash. It is scheduled for July. The FBI should be waiting at the reception desk with a complimentary pina colada and a set of handcuffs.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published June 17, 2006
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was too slow in bringing relief after Hurricane Katrina. That was established a long time ago.
But the agency also managed to send as much as $1.4 billion to storm swindlers. Scam artists spent federal relief funds on jewelry, Caribbean vacations, pro football tickets, pornographic videos, divorce lawyer fees and a sex-change operation.
And FEMA's excuse for getting swindled is that ... it was in a rush to provide relief.
To think some people say Americans have become too cynical about their government.
Government auditors say that $1.4 billion represents 16 percent of all the federal money that FEMA distributed--money that was supposed to provide emergency food, shelter and clothing but was misused. This wasn't an occasional lapse.
In testimony before a House subcommittee on Wednesday, FEMA officials defended their efforts. In their rush to get money distributed, FEMA officials appear to have run on an honor system, even when it became apparent that some applicants were hardly honorable. Some 173 prison inmates, for example, received $10 million in expedited rental assistance payments, auditors for the Government Accountability Office auditors told the House. The inmates used phony addresses and Social Security numbers to pose as Katrina victims and routed the checks or ATM cards to friends and relatives. Other scammers claimed cemeteries and vacant lots as their home addresses.
Hurricane Katrina was an extraordinary event with a chaotic aftermath. This was not, as everybody knows, as simple as cleaning up the confetti on LaSalle Street after the White Sox World Series parade. But you have to wonder if FEMA had been assigned that job, whether there'd be a LaSalle Street left standing today.
One bright spot for FEMA: The Hooters restaurant chain has offered to reimburse the feds for a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne that someone bought with emergency relief money.
And there still may be time to catch some of the Katrina flimflam folks. Auditors spotted an all-inclusive Caribbean beach resort vacation trip purchased with Katrina cash. It is scheduled for July. The FBI should be waiting at the reception desk with a complimentary pina colada and a set of handcuffs.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 6:23 AM
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