Louisiana Shortchanged

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:

WASHINGTON — Louisiana was shortchanged in funding for a pilot program to build so-called Katrina Cottages as a disaster-housing alternative, the investigative arm of Congress concluded.

The Government Accountability Office, in a report issued earlier this week, said the state could have received almost double the $74.5 million it has been slated had the agency overseeing the program used a more fair formula.
....

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the congressional delegation cried foul, noting that Louisiana suffered more than three times the housing damage in hurricanes Katrina and Rita than Mississippi.

The GAO finding was similar to a report issued earlier this year by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA.

Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, pointed out Wednesday that the report showed FEMA ignored the recommendations of its own panel of 11 experts when issuing the awards.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the fact that Mississippi has a Republican governor, Haley Barbour - a Bush crony, actually - and Louisiana has a Democratic governor. No politics in operation here. Nothing to see. Move along now.

That money is gone, spent. The only hope:

A spokesman for [Sen. Mary] Landrieu said Wednesday that the state has little recourse as it pertains to the December award but may benefit if the federal government agrees that the cottage pilot is the best disaster housing alternative.