There’s a fun little article in today’s New York Times that gives folks a taste into the Louisiana political environment, particularly in relation to Katrina reconstruction.
Like myriad other local institutions here, Louisiana’s parish levee boards have existed for years in relative obscurity, all the while amassing wealth and property, and even maintaining their own police forces.
But following the disastrous flooding after Hurricane Katrina, the operations of the levee boards have come under intense questioning. And on Monday, the State Legislature convenes a special session that will consider whether to consolidate the local boards in Orleans and seven neighboring parishes into one regional board that would be professionally run and managed.[...]
The boards’ main responsibility is maintenance of the state’s levees. But traditionally, appointments to the boards by the governor and local governments were patronage plums, like the contracts the boards doled out to friends and relatives.
The legislative crusade, while backed by a petition signed by more than 50,000 citizens, has thus engendered opposition from some local politicians.
In past business dealings in Louisiana, I learned that knowing whom was related to whom, and how your actions impacted a politician’s or regulator’s kin was vital to understanding how any proposal you make would be received.
Thus, the NYT’s comments about the levee boards quoted above and elsewhere in the article are not entirely surprising.
Here’s hoping for the sake of the people of Louisiana that a little bit of sunlight shown into the levee board structure will clean up some of the mold growing therein.