Less than a week after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast -- while people were still short of water, food and ice -- a FEMA credit card paid for $17,039 worth of speakers, microphones, and audio mixers.The gear was supposed to be used in a convention center where hundreds of volunteers were to be trained for community relations service in the disaster zone.
The government issues "purchase cards" to certain government employees to speed purchases. Most have a $2,500 limit. For the Katrina response, they suddenly had a $250,000 limit. FEMA folks went on a $12.1 million spending spree with your money.
USA Today found:
- At least 50 automatic heart defibrillators from Medtronic in Redmond, Washington: nearly $1.5 million
- Portable toilets rented from EMO Energy Solutions of Falls Church, Virginia: 100 toilets for 30 days: $153,000
- Veterinary supplies from Pennvet Supply in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: $250,049
- Boots from Backcountry Gear in Eugene, Oregon: $68,442
3 comments:
The purchases sound legitimate to me. If it was for booze and lap dances, I might be upset. But portable toilets, boots, vet supplies and AEDs sound like necessities.
Our state sent 50 state police cars to help with policing the hurricane devastated areas. I'm sure that isn't cheap, but I support the effort.
The gov't does need to keep an eye on the spending to make sure that it isn't wasted, however.
Did the article mention if the items purchased outside of the disaster area were transported there at a later time?
It's probably wise to purchase the goods all around the country (to spread the wealth) then transport into to relief zone, rather than order and hope the trucks can make it into the area.
Chris
Random Chaos
The supplies that were purchased from Penn Vet were for the abandoned domesticated animals that were stranded in the affected region. Vets were housing and providing care for all of these new strays and needed supplies to care for them. As far as I am aware, all supplies purchased from Penn Vet were sent to the affected area by military transport. The reason Penn Vet was chosen as one of the suppliers is that they were not price gouging like many other businesses out there were, taking advantage of a horrible situation. Those companies are the ones that should be looked upon poorly.
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