WASHINGTON -- The Gulf Coast unquestionably gets an above-average share of hurricanes. It also has a reputation for an above-average share of crooked government employees and officials.
There is a connection, a new report says.
The states with the largest number of federal corruption convictions "clearly are those that are being hit with the most natural disasters," said Russell Sobel, a West Virginia University economist who co-authored the report titled "Weathering Corruption."
Sobel spoke Wednesday at a panel discussion organized by the Mercatus Center, a Washington, D.C.-area think tank organization that is often skeptical of government programs.
The reason for the link, Sobel said, can be found in the windfall of Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster money that offers new opportunities for abuse, whether through outright embezzlement or taking kickbacks from contractors. Adding to the temptation is the chaos and lack of oversight that often follows a storm, he said.
Using a state-by-state analysis of federal public corruption convictions from 1990-1999, the report found that Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida ranked high, while inland states like Nebraska and Utah were below the national average. The report does not give a ranking for Alabama. But by the authors' analysis, every additional $1 in annual per-person FEMA relief "increases corruption nearly 2.5 percent in the average state."
Although tougher punishments might help, the report concludes "that they are less effective than curtailing FEMA disaster relief." Private aid organizations seem to do a better job of monitoring where the money goes, Sobel said.
Since Hurricane Katrina struck almost a year ago, federal prosecutors have charged almost 300 people with misusing FEMA assistance, the report says, although it does not provide a breakout on how many are private citizens or federal, state or local officials. The U.S. Justice Department's press office did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking more information.
At the U.S. attorney's office in Mobile, spokesman Charlie McNichol said Wednesday that Katrina has so far not resulted in any public corruption cases in the Southern District of Alabama.
But issues involving Hurricane Ivan relief surfaced this week in the federal trial of former Orange Beach Mayor Steve Russo, who stands accused of taking money and gifts from developers whose projects he backed before the City Council.
Following the September 2004 storm, Russo gave developer Jim Brown lucrative cleanup work, some of which was actually handled by city employees, as a reward for Brown's paying Russo's main political foe to leave town, according to Brown's testimony Tuesday.
While FEMA typically picks up 75 percent of cities' and counties' debris removal costs after a disaster, the agency ultimately agreed to pay 90 percent for communities affected by Ivan. Coupled with the state's decision to pay the remaining 10 percent, that change stood to save Orange Beach almost $700,000 on debris removal alone, the Press-Register reported last year.