He writes letters

Joe Jaworski writes the following letter to Governor Perry:

Dear Governor Perry:

I know you share my outrage at the snail's pace of state aid for Texas families more than two years after Hurricane Rita came ashore with such force. The recent State Auditor's report finds that of nearly 4,300 applications for federal assistance controlled by your administration, only 13 have been helped.

This letter is to ask you to take immediate steps to break the logjam that has kept all but a mere two percent of available aid from getting to the families who need it most.

It is outrageous that these taxpaying citizens - these Texans! - should be victimized twice - first by the storm, then again by the state bureaucracy.

The State Auditor's report makes clear that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has been too cautious in providing relief to the storm's victims but thrown caution to the wind when it comes to privatizing relief effort, including a multi-million dollar contract with a private firm whose top lobbyist is your former chief of staff.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has also squandered more than $230,000 in hurricane relief on administrative expenses, according the State Auditor's report. That's one-fifth of what has been spent thus far--a ratio that would make Halliburton blush.

I urge you to make sure that Texans who applied for aid receive initial payments to get things going. The state can then provide additional funds based on a more thorough approval process. This plan will guarantee immediate help while allowing for safeguards to protect taxpayers against fraud or abuse.

As a Galveston city councilman in 2005, I helped lead the efforts to prepare for Hurricane Rita's arrival. Had the storm not turned east at the last minute, our region would have been devastated. Even though we avoided the brunt of the hurricane, thousands in our area suffered property and infrastructure damage. They deserve help - now.

Sincerely,

Joe Jaworski

Jaworski is referring to this story from last week. Given the initial response from Governor Perry, I'm not sure his letter will be well received.

Gov. Rick Perry defended housing situations on Friday - both his own move to a $1.8 million lease home while the Governor's Mansion undergoes renovation and the two-year wait for assistance endured by 4,300 Texas families displaced by Hurricane Rita.

After voting early on the 16 propositions on Tuesday's general election ballot, Mr. Perry told reporters that both housing situations were based on security needs - in his case, to accommodate his security detail, and in the Rita victims' instance, to protect taxpayers' money.

A critical state audit report released this week showed that the state has spent only 2 percent of the half-billion dollars in federal aid given to help victims of the 2005 storm, which happened only weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi.

Thus far, only 13 families have been supplied mobile homes.

"You try to find a balance of having the right safeguards in place and getting the money to the people who need it in an appropriate amount of time," Mr. Perry said. "I think the vast majority of Texans would rather get it right then get it quick."

He said the state's response in the immediate aftermath of the storm was good, and that other "pots of money" have been used to help rebuild southeast Texas communities.

He said the housing funds are slowed by federal restrictions and the state's own insistence that the money not fall victim to fraud.

Asked repeatedly about the audit, the governor said it was unnecessary to keep "beating this horse" and that his chief of staff had made phone calls to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

"Can it be faster? Yes. Should it be faster? I think so. But again, I think finding a way to do that without jeopardizing the taxpayers' money is really important," Mr. Perry said.

"Am I going to lift a finger to help? Nope," Perry did not add. For goodness' sake, even John Cornyn thinks this is ridiculous.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has denounced the state's "shockingly slow pace" of parceling out federal housing aid to Hurricane Rita victims.

Citing a state audit released last week that found only 13 families had been helped, out of almost 4,300 applicants for aid, Mr. Cornyn rebuked the state's top housing official Thursday and huddled with federal agency leaders about how to speed the flow of money.

"While it is important to meet federal regulatory requirements and have safeguards against fraud and abuse, I believe the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has taken an overly cautious and bureaucratic approach to delivering assistance to homeowners," Mr. Cornyn wrote Michael Gerber, the department's executive director.

[...]

Mr. Cornyn complained to Mr. Gerber that with similar block grants, Louisiana has helped 36,000 families and Mississippi, more than 13,000.

"The go-slow mind set ... must be reversed, and I urge you to streamline and expedite the approval process," Mr. Cornyn wrote.

When even our junior Senator thinks the government should be doing more to help, you know things are bad.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 10, 2007 to Hurricane Katrina