Posted on 12/22/2006 10:48:52 AM PST by Ellesu
NEW ORLEANS -- On the eve of taking control of Congress, Democrats are interested in forming an investigative panel similar to the 9-11 Commission to investigate who was responsible for the levees that broke during Hurricane Katrina and to probe the government's efforts to repatriate and rebuild this devastated city.
Advocates say the commission is needed to truly understand what went wrong to cause the flooding of New Orleans and the deaths of more than 1,300 people. They also say a commission would be a forum to discuss broad changes to the way the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies do business and handle disasters.
The commission is being referred to as the 8-29 commission, after the date Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Creating a commission is one of several pieces of Katrina-related legislative action that could crop up as the Democrats take over Congress and seize upon Katrina as an issue heading into the 2008 presidential elections.
Next week, presidential contender John Edwards plans on announcing his bid for the White House in New Orleans, another indication that Katrina may be making a comeback onto the main stage of American politics.
Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist, said Democrats will make Katrina a priority because there are still so many problems on the Gulf Coast 15 months after Katrina hit. She said the Democrats will want to make sure there is "some follow-up, some implementation" of programs to help people displaced by the storm and to rebuild the city.
Although there have been investigations into the catastrophe by Congress and the White House, critics _ including some Democrats _ said those panels were partisan and incomplete.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., may lead the call for a commission. Shortly after the storm hit, Landrieu urged Congress to set up an independent panel, a suggestion that was shot down. She now will be on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and that may give her more muscle in establishing the panel.
"There have been several investigations into what went wrong, but they have been stymied by a lack of information, a lack of bureaucratic clearance," said Adam Sharp, Landrieu's spokesman. The commission would look into the levee failures and the continuing response to Katrina, he said.
Aaron Walker, the national FEMA spokesman, said the agency has acted on "numerous reports from outside interests, Congress and the White House on how to improve the agency and determine where the missteps were in our response to Katrina."
"At this point, it is doubtful that further reports or commissions will reveal new, actionable insight," he said. "Rather, they diminish the efforts of FEMA employees who have spent countless hours and weekends since the landfall of Katrina in assisting disaster victims."
Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, questioned how impartial a new commission could be.
"If you listen to the Democrats, the Republicans actually caused the storm, that they created the hurricane, and did all the damage," Luntz said.
He suggested that Democrats in Louisiana, in particular Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, would have a lot to lose if a commission started sniffing out who blundered.
"Any kind of commission would explore what happened on the state and local level, and it would surely find fault on how relief was delivered nationally, but it would find a tremendous amount of fault on the state and local levels."
Sharp called Luntz's comments a reflection of "Republican talking points, and one of them is to deflect blame to the local government, and it started within the first minutes after Katrina, and it hasn't let up."
Sharp said "mistakes were made at all levels" but "that does not excuse the wholesale breakdown of federal bureaucracy."
Jenni Bergal, a project manager with the nonpartisan research group Center for Public Integrity who has been monitoring the rebuilding since Katrina, said a new commission might allow Congress to "take a step back" and deal with larger policy issues.
"Much of what they have done is reactive, and that makes sense given the scope of the disaster. Maybe now they can look at it with more historic perspective and look ahead to the future," Bergal said.
Bobby Jindal, R-La., said he would welcome a new commission because "anything that causes more attention to be focused on the Gulf Coast is a good thing."
"The focus should not be on pointing fingers," Jindal said, "but the focus should be on looking at what should be done going forward."
Lee Hamilton needs work?
Golly, would this focus on Nagin, and Blanco, or would it primarily focus on President Bush?
They really don't want to investigate Katrina. It won't serve the Dems at all to focus attention on something that's already been placed at Pub feet in the popular mind, but in reality is spread pretty evenly between the two parties. There's nothing to gain and quite a bit to lose.
Heres the conclusion to my investigation:
The water in the Atlantic Ocean was warm.
A storm developed into a hurricane.
The storm run aground in New Orleans.
The smart people that took responsibility for themselves and their family got out like they were told.
The LOCAL DEMOCRAT OFFICIALS did nothing to ensure that the people that could not leave were taken care of.
The LOCAL DEMOCRAT OFFICIALS blamed Bush once again.
And who the he!!s fault is that, Donna? Personally, I don't think the federal government has any responsibility to rebuild New Orleans, other than to guarantee low-interest reconstruction loans like in any other natural disaster. New Orleans not only suffers from a poverty of the material means, but also suffers from a poverty of spirit which would rather blame a Republican President for its woes than do the work necessary to rebuild itself.
Ah, yes. The legendary first black hurricane continues to wreak havoc.
What BS.
I don't think they ought to go there. They won't like what they find.
Will they include the part about Jesse Jackson screaming "RACISM!!!" when FEMA tried to Wargame a hurricane hitting a large city, with social unrest as one of the results??
Welfare minorities would NEVER riot when all the social services and Police protections break down, would they?
They are simply clueless.
No, they don't need a commission.
Chappaquiddick needs one also!
the commission will conclude....
it was Bush's fault.....he is responsible for the weather and for the stupidity of blanco and nagin...and he has not given enough money to rebuild the slums of the chocolate city!!!!
ok...the US just saved a lot of money!!!
Big government doesn't work. There...no need for a commission.
No problem. The findings and conclusions of said commission have already been made.
I wonder if the Katrina committee will investigate this?
Naaah.
FR Exclusive: John Kerry, Mary Landrieu, MoveOn DNC and Katrina
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