"Mama say trailers come from rays of sunshine."
Posted on 11/16/2005 2:57:22 AM PST by Ellesu
A politically connected motorcycle shop didn't have a license to sell travel trailers when it started providing $108 million worth of post-hurricane housing to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Louisiana Recreational and Used Motor Vehicle Commission on Tuesday found that Bourget's of the South violated state law when it sold trailers to FEMA without proper credentials.
Bourget's is owned by the father and uncle of state Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco.
The commission decided against an offer by the uncle, Glen Smith, to plead no contest and pay a $10,000 fine for selling the trailers without the proper license.
The commission on Tuesday voted 8-1 to reject the offer and hold a full hearing, possibly next month.
Bourget's, in River Ridge, got a $2.4 million contract to provide FEMA with 105 travel trailers 12 days after Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana.
The contract has swelled since then to $108 million to provide 6,416 trailers.
"It's the magnitude of it that disturbs me personally," said commission member Henry Smith.
Commission investigators found that Bourget's bought 211 travel trailers from dealers throughout the United States, then sold them to FEMA – all without a license to sell new recreational vehicles.
The company bought trailers from dealers in Metairie, Mississippi, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas, Florida and as far away as Ontario, Canada.
The initial FEMA contract was awarded Sept. 8. Bourget's didn't get a license that allowed the firm to sell the trailers until Oct. 18, according to commission documents.
The investigation followed a complaint by Steve Bordelon, a St. Bernard Parish RV company owner who alleged Bourget's got an "inside deal" because of political connections.
The Legislature is considering a proposed law to require elected and some appointed officials to reveal when they or their close relatives benefit from federal hurricane-recovery contracts.
Despite pleas from some lawmakers, Gov. Kathleen Blanco's agenda for the current legislative session does not allow them to pass laws restricting recovery contracts.
Rep. Smith, D-Norco, is an attorney for the firm but said he had nothing to do with his father's and uncle's trailer deal.
Glen Smith, who is also chairman of the Louisiana Airport Authority, said the contract came about because of his family's long-standing relationships with FEMA through another company that does dredging, debris removal and other work.
Jim Gauthier, owner of Gauthier's RV Center Inc. in Lafayette, wondered whether a new complaint should be filed to cover Bourget's activity under the second, more lucrative, FEMA contract. He said that contract also may have been awarded before Bourget's got its license.
The offer to pay a $10,000 fine was a drop in the bucket for the money that the Smiths are making, Gauthier said.
Gauthier complained that Bourget's isn't the only firm that FEMA is dealing with that doesn't have proper licenses.
Many Louisiana dealers who could provide trailers are losing work to out-of-state contractors, Gauthier said. He said other dealers aren't getting the business they could get, because they are being held to a different standard than companies such as Bourget's.
"They are above everybody else," commission executive director Jack Torrance said of FEMA. "They think they can do anything they want."
Commission attorney Robert Hallack said the commission had received more information about Bourget's and other firms on Tuesday morning and that more charges could follow.
Louisiana Politics 101----If ya in, ya in.....if ya ain´t in, ya ain´t in.
This all sounds normal for the state...
I could care less if they didn't have some B.S. bureaucratic license.
Now, if they weren't the best price for these trailers for the taxpayers, *that* I care about.
Isn't that the lege that flat-out lied about a bill's content to get it passed, allowing marguritas sold in convenience stores?
To parahrase Wiley Hilburn (Head of the alleged Journalism Department at Louisiana Tech University and part-time Gannetoid), "Well!! Well!! We ain't no more crooked than any other state!!"
That was Rep. Jack Smith, D-Patterson.
Sun comes up in East again.
Louisiana, New Jersey, no difference.
Why in blazes do you need a license to sell travel trailers?
Sun comes up in East again.
LMAO@your post and tagline!
Thank you. Have a really great day.
If you would like on or off of the Louisiana Ping list please FReepmail me and your name will be added or removed.
At ~20k per trailer, that seems to be alot for what would be expected to be bare-bones units...
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