Article published Sep 15, 2005
Blanco lauds heroic efforts, acknowledges critical errors

By Dan Turner and Mike Hasten
Louisiana Gannett News Service BATON ROUGE - Gov. Kathleen Blanco promised Wednesday to bring Louisiana residents home and to rebuild New Orleans as the state deals with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Speaking directly to the thousands of evacuees housed in cities across the country, Blanco said, "Your loss is our loss. As your governor, I pledge that I will not rest until every Louisiana family and community is reunited."
At a joint meeting of the Louisiana Legislature, Blanco thanked President Bush for his help and acknowledged that, in response to the storm, mistakes were made on the state, federal and local level, and vowing to learn from the errors, the governor shouldered the blame.
"At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again," Blanco said. "The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility."
The speech was one part thanks, one part admission of the enormous rebuilding task ahead and one part admonition to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to act quickly and to utilize Louisiana workers in the process.
"I've told FEMA to give priority to Louisiana companies and Louisiana workers," Blanco said. "I have called upon FEMA to not only look first to Louisiana businesses, but to pay them in a timely fashion and not force them to wait the usual six months. They will not survive without this consideration."
The governor lauded the work of volunteers, first responders and the military in the days immediately following Katrina.
"It is impossible to name every group involved, but tonight we have a few representatives with us: police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, members of the National Guard, Coast Guardsmen, helicopter pilots and wildlife agents," she said. As lawmakers erupted in applause, Blanco said, "These are our heroes. Thank you."
She thanked people from across the nation and around the world for their contributions, including money, food, water and shelter.
"So long as the Mississippi River flows to the sea," she said, "we will never forget your generosity."
Other than accepting blame for the state's errors in responding to the storm, the governor did not directly confront a number of touchy topics that have floated to the surface in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Instead of addressing any confrontation with Bush - there have been questions about the working relationship between the two - Blanco praised him. She did not criticize FEMA, but rather, publicly laid out her expectations of what the agency needs to do to help the state recover as quickly as possible.
Without outlining specific proposals, Blanco gave the lawmakers their first taste of issues they likely will have to face in a special session. Tax relief and loans will have to be structured to accommodate businesses struggling to rebuild.
"Katrina scattered more than 1 million Louisianans across our state and the nation," she said. "I am telling each and every one of you: We want you back home.
"To come home, our people must have jobs," Blanco said. "We can't rebuild our communities without jobs for the people in them."
Lawmakers said Blanco's address put them on notice.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," said state Rep. Joel Robideaux, I-Lafayette. "The governor's call to action was what people needed to hear."
On the heels of criticism that various levels of government were uncoordinated in the effort to evacuate southeast Louisiana residents and to save lives once the flood waters inundated the city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes, Blanco stressed the need to learn from the tragedy that has claimed more than 400 lives in Louisiana alone.
State Rep. Gil Pinac, D-Crowley, said the main thing is "to make sure we learn from our mistakes. With all the blame game going on, we need to look at what we could have done better."
"My concern," said Rep. Wilfred Pierre, D-Lafayette, "is how are we going to finance this? Where do we get the money? I know we would have to adjust the budget, but we didn't get any direction on how we are going to do it."
Pierre said he wants to make sure that the people who have been displaced in New Orleans are given the first chance to be hired to rebuild the city.
"We can ill afford to bring in a bunch of nonresidents to do cheap labor when we have so many people without jobs," Pierre said.
State Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, agrees with Pierre that "I would like to see more about the money. Many of us have questions about how this is going to take place, how the money is going to be spent and who is responsible?"
Blanco lauds heroic efforts, acknowledges critical errors

By Dan Turner and Mike Hasten
Louisiana Gannett News Service BATON ROUGE - Gov. Kathleen Blanco promised Wednesday to bring Louisiana residents home and to rebuild New Orleans as the state deals with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Speaking directly to the thousands of evacuees housed in cities across the country, Blanco said, "Your loss is our loss. As your governor, I pledge that I will not rest until every Louisiana family and community is reunited."
At a joint meeting of the Louisiana Legislature, Blanco thanked President Bush for his help and acknowledged that, in response to the storm, mistakes were made on the state, federal and local level, and vowing to learn from the errors, the governor shouldered the blame.
"At the state level, we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again," Blanco said. "The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility."
The speech was one part thanks, one part admission of the enormous rebuilding task ahead and one part admonition to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to act quickly and to utilize Louisiana workers in the process.
"I've told FEMA to give priority to Louisiana companies and Louisiana workers," Blanco said. "I have called upon FEMA to not only look first to Louisiana businesses, but to pay them in a timely fashion and not force them to wait the usual six months. They will not survive without this consideration."
The governor lauded the work of volunteers, first responders and the military in the days immediately following Katrina.
"It is impossible to name every group involved, but tonight we have a few representatives with us: police officers, firefighters, doctors and nurses, members of the National Guard, Coast Guardsmen, helicopter pilots and wildlife agents," she said. As lawmakers erupted in applause, Blanco said, "These are our heroes. Thank you."
She thanked people from across the nation and around the world for their contributions, including money, food, water and shelter.
"So long as the Mississippi River flows to the sea," she said, "we will never forget your generosity."
Other than accepting blame for the state's errors in responding to the storm, the governor did not directly confront a number of touchy topics that have floated to the surface in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Instead of addressing any confrontation with Bush - there have been questions about the working relationship between the two - Blanco praised him. She did not criticize FEMA, but rather, publicly laid out her expectations of what the agency needs to do to help the state recover as quickly as possible.
Without outlining specific proposals, Blanco gave the lawmakers their first taste of issues they likely will have to face in a special session. Tax relief and loans will have to be structured to accommodate businesses struggling to rebuild.
"Katrina scattered more than 1 million Louisianans across our state and the nation," she said. "I am telling each and every one of you: We want you back home.
"To come home, our people must have jobs," Blanco said. "We can't rebuild our communities without jobs for the people in them."
Lawmakers said Blanco's address put them on notice.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," said state Rep. Joel Robideaux, I-Lafayette. "The governor's call to action was what people needed to hear."
On the heels of criticism that various levels of government were uncoordinated in the effort to evacuate southeast Louisiana residents and to save lives once the flood waters inundated the city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes, Blanco stressed the need to learn from the tragedy that has claimed more than 400 lives in Louisiana alone.
State Rep. Gil Pinac, D-Crowley, said the main thing is "to make sure we learn from our mistakes. With all the blame game going on, we need to look at what we could have done better."
"My concern," said Rep. Wilfred Pierre, D-Lafayette, "is how are we going to finance this? Where do we get the money? I know we would have to adjust the budget, but we didn't get any direction on how we are going to do it."
Pierre said he wants to make sure that the people who have been displaced in New Orleans are given the first chance to be hired to rebuild the city.
"We can ill afford to bring in a bunch of nonresidents to do cheap labor when we have so many people without jobs," Pierre said.
State Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, agrees with Pierre that "I would like to see more about the money. Many of us have questions about how this is going to take place, how the money is going to be spent and who is responsible?"