Katrina and Louisiana Politics

Katrina has effected state and local governments and the repercussions could last for decades. New Orleans may lay off as much as 40% of it’s workforce just to balance their budget. St. Bernard Parish has already laid of 120 municipal employees and is asking for federal assistance so that they can make payroll for the remaining employees. The parish is estimating that 80% of the homes will have to be demolished due to hurricane damage. The entire business community was wiped out, as was the Parish’s tax base.

And then there is this – it sounds like Ebenezer Scrooge has been appointed head of FEMA.

Mike McCormick, a spokesman for FEMA, said that the federal government had historically paid only the "extraordinary costs" of local governments and that the agency could not change this policy unilaterally.

With conservatives in Congress already complaining about spending levels, it was not clear how the request would be received.

Responding to widespread criticism, the White House on Monday rescinded the $250,000 limit it had placed on federal government credit cards for use in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

In instructions issued to government agencies, the Office of Management and Budget restored the usual $2,500 limit for so-called micropurchases.

The limit can be raised to $15,000 under some circumstances. An emergency appropriations bill passed early last month had increased the ceiling to $250,000 for Hurricane Katrina recovery needs.

The NYT has more here.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY EFECTS

If evacuees from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans - a reliable bloc of 30,000 black voters that is traditionally easy to mobilize - choose suburban or rural areas over their urban roots in coming years, it could be a political blow to Democrats, said Roy Fletcher, a political consultant from Shreveport who helped elect former Gov. Mike Foster, a Republican.

"It would give a whole lot of a stronger foothold to Republicans in the Legislature and statewide," Mr. Fletcher said. "Louisiana has always been a swing state, a purple state that's both blue and red. You take the Ninth Ward out of that equation and you get a real shot of Republicans winning statewide office."

Barry Erwin, president of a Council for a Better Louisiana, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that monitors the activities of state government, said such a change could forever alter the political landscape.

"These things are symbolic of a divide that we've always had," he said. "There's an us versus them thing. In New Orleans, it's like us, and then there's the rest of the state. Around the rest of the state, it's like us, and then there's New Orleans. This could change all of that."

Read more here:

I'd say now is the time for the Democratic Party to work on a strategy to solidify and build a Democratic majority in Louisiana considering the poor response of the Republican administration and appointees. Any suggestions on how to do this and deal with the basic needs of over 1,000,000 people whose lives have been disrupted at the same time?