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Cleaning up the Big Easy - Corruption Charges in the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation

New Orleans has long (always?) had corrupt government. So it is no surprise that FBI and HUD investigators are finding taxpayer money is being paid out to certain well-connected contractors for work that was never done.

According to the Times Picayne, contractors were paid for “remediating” blighted homes that were never actually “remediated”. Some contractors were paid for gutting homes for demolition, but the work is known to have been performed by volunteer groups.

[The mayor’s office] has said that city staffers visited sites to ensure the work invoiced was actually performed. But it is not clear what efforts the city has made to ensure that the contractor who billed taxpayers actually did the work, as opposed to a volunteer group.

Similarly, in cases where a house the city paid to gut has since been demolished, it's not clear how, or whether, city staffers are attempting to verify the work.

It's also unclear how the administration sought to determine whether grass-cutting was performed. That was the only service provided at about 110 of the 870 addresses where remediation work was done, according to city records.

Grass cutting? Seriously?

Right now would be a great time to make the argument that this is an outrage and a travesty. And that it was completely predictable. But instead, I will take this opportunity to note that the FBI and HUD investigators seem to be on top of the issue. This kind of corruption is being dragged out into the light for close scrutiny, and people in New Orleans will learn that local corruption is one thing, but corruption with federal dollars brings serious consequences. The US taxpayer will not stand for this kind of financial irresponsibility and chicanery!

Incidentally, how much do you suppose it costs to have all of these federal agents collect evidence, issue subpoenas, and carry out a full investigation? How much will it cost to prosecute the wrongdoers? Probably a lot more than the value of the disputed work--$103,517, according to the article. Even if they get the money back, there is no way to come out ahead on this. It may just be that there's just no amount of money that could clean up this town.