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http://www.newsmax.com/politics/katrina_candidates/2007/08/27/27768.html
Candidates Promise More for New Orleans
Monday, August 27, 2007
NEW ORLEANS -- Republican and Democratic presidential candidates on Monday
bemoaned the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina as they
called for ways to spur the recovery of New Orleans two years after the
devastating storm.
Democrat John Edwards proposed increasing federal funds for 500 new police
officers, promised to provide full scholarships for nurses who commit to
working in the city and called for the creation of "Brownie's Law" to ensure
that federal political appointees are qualified for their jobs.
The latter was a reference to former Federal Emergency Management Agency
Director Michael Brown, who was widely criticized for his agency's response
to the disaster. President Bush publicly told the director, "Brownie, you're
doing a heck of a job," even as evacuees remained trapped in the Louisiana
Superdome and bodies bloated in the streets.
"Our government's response to Hurricane Katrina has been a national shame,"
said Edwards, who announced his candidacy last year in the hurricane-ravaged
area of the city. "We are not the country of the Superdome in New Orleans
after Katrina. We can prove it by fulfilling our moral responsibility to get
New Orleans back on its feet."
Details of the Edwards' plan were contained in remarks prepared for delivery
at the Hope & Recovery Summit at the University of New Orleans, an event
marking Katrina's two-year anniversary. Edwards and Democrat Hillary Rodham
Clinton planned to address the group Monday night along with Republican
Duncan Hunter. GOP candidate Mike Huckabee spoke Monday morning.
Huckabee said the federal government's response to Katrina was marked by a
lack of leadership and planning. He said that guilt after the storm meant
money was directed to the region but not necessarily in the ideal way.
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, decried the bureaucracy that has
stalled the recovery of New Orleans. He said the government needed to put
"people first, paperwork next in a disaster the size of Katrina."
New Orleans' recovery from the storm has been hampered by red tape as
officials try to ensure that billions of federal dollars being sent to the
area are spent properly. But critics have complained that the accountability
procedures are keeping money from getting to individuals and neighborhoods
that need it most.
The city's population continues to grow _ now estimated at about 270,000 out
of pre-Katrina level of 455,000.
But Huckabee said about half the 75,000 Louisiana residents who fled to
Arkansas are still there, and he thinks they will stay there because of job
opportunities, stability and the need to get away from the storm's trauma.
New Orleans was ordered abandoned after levees broke and flooded 80 percent
of the city. More than 1,400 deaths were blamed on Katrina in Louisiana.
Speaking to the policy makers, academics, scientists and community members
at Monday's symposium, Huckabee said many of those remaining in Arkansas
have a sense of abandonment. "You can never, ever undo that in a human
soul," he said.
Candidates Promise More for New Orleans
Monday, August 27, 2007
NEW ORLEANS -- Republican and Democratic presidential candidates on Monday
bemoaned the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina as they
called for ways to spur the recovery of New Orleans two years after the
devastating storm.
Democrat John Edwards proposed increasing federal funds for 500 new police
officers, promised to provide full scholarships for nurses who commit to
working in the city and called for the creation of "Brownie's Law" to ensure
that federal political appointees are qualified for their jobs.
The latter was a reference to former Federal Emergency Management Agency
Director Michael Brown, who was widely criticized for his agency's response
to the disaster. President Bush publicly told the director, "Brownie, you're
doing a heck of a job," even as evacuees remained trapped in the Louisiana
Superdome and bodies bloated in the streets.
"Our government's response to Hurricane Katrina has been a national shame,"
said Edwards, who announced his candidacy last year in the hurricane-ravaged
area of the city. "We are not the country of the Superdome in New Orleans
after Katrina. We can prove it by fulfilling our moral responsibility to get
New Orleans back on its feet."
Details of the Edwards' plan were contained in remarks prepared for delivery
at the Hope & Recovery Summit at the University of New Orleans, an event
marking Katrina's two-year anniversary. Edwards and Democrat Hillary Rodham
Clinton planned to address the group Monday night along with Republican
Duncan Hunter. GOP candidate Mike Huckabee spoke Monday morning.
Huckabee said the federal government's response to Katrina was marked by a
lack of leadership and planning. He said that guilt after the storm meant
money was directed to the region but not necessarily in the ideal way.
Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, decried the bureaucracy that has
stalled the recovery of New Orleans. He said the government needed to put
"people first, paperwork next in a disaster the size of Katrina."
New Orleans' recovery from the storm has been hampered by red tape as
officials try to ensure that billions of federal dollars being sent to the
area are spent properly. But critics have complained that the accountability
procedures are keeping money from getting to individuals and neighborhoods
that need it most.
The city's population continues to grow _ now estimated at about 270,000 out
of pre-Katrina level of 455,000.
But Huckabee said about half the 75,000 Louisiana residents who fled to
Arkansas are still there, and he thinks they will stay there because of job
opportunities, stability and the need to get away from the storm's trauma.
New Orleans was ordered abandoned after levees broke and flooded 80 percent
of the city. More than 1,400 deaths were blamed on Katrina in Louisiana.
Speaking to the policy makers, academics, scientists and community members
at Monday's symposium, Huckabee said many of those remaining in Arkansas
have a sense of abandonment. "You can never, ever undo that in a human
soul," he said.
