LA Official Distributes Relief Supplies To Self
A case study in why people don’t trust government officials:
Police found cases of food, clothing and tools intended for hurricane victims at the home of the chief administrative officer for a New Orleans suburb, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers searched Cedric Floyd’s home because of complaints that city workers were helping themselves to donations for hurricane victims. Floyd, who runs the day-to-day operations in the suburb of Kenner, was in charge of distributing the goods.
Police plan to seek a charge of committing an illegal act as a public official against Floyd, and more charges against other city workers are possible, police Capt. Steve Caraway said.
The donations filled a large pickup truck four times. “It was an awful lot of stuff,” Caraway said.
It’s like looting, just more organized. Instead of going out and finding stuff to steal, Cedric Floyd, whose responsibilities include coordination of emergency management procedures, waited for the relief supplies to arrive, and then kept them handy so that he could supply them to himself and other city workers.
Disgusting. The AG has said that once all the materials collected are processed as evidence, they’ll be distributed to hurricane victims who desperately need them.
Cedric Floyd better get himself a talented lawyer, because he is really, really screwed. Have fun finding a sympathetic jury. I wonder how many of the cronies who were in on this will flip and testify against him.
Strangely, a spokesman for the mayor tried to throw a little political cover Floyd’s way:
Philip Ramon, chief of staff to Kenner Mayor Philip Capitano, has said city officials were investigating the alleged pilfering but added that many employees were themselves hurricane victims.
Note to Philip Ramon and his boss, Mayor Capitano: Everyone in Kenner was a hurricane victim. That doesn’t give the ones on the city payroll the right to help themselves to a private stash of donated relief supplies that the chief administrative officer has set up in his home.
(Cross-posted at The Noonz Wire)
