From: "Mark" 

Why do you categorize this disaster in entirely political terms Rich?

It sounds as if you're more worried about this guy being a Dem and
providing relief for a partisan attack on the president, than you are about
either the victims of the storm or his possible motives in getting a laptop
out of his house in view of the ongoing investigations into his
questionable activities...

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
news:43278b0e{at}w3.nls.net...
> Just when the heat is on this administration someone from the opposition
> does something incredibly stupid.
>
> http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1
>
>
> Sept. 13, 3005 - Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans
> after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local congressman used National Guard
> troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings - even
> while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC
> News has learned.
>
> On Friday, Sept. 2 - five days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast - Rep.
> William Jefferson, D-La., who represents New Orleans and is a senior
> member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the
> military blockades set up around the city to reach the Superdome, where
> thousands of evacuees had been taken.
>
> Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic
> congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of
> the flooded portions of his congressional district. A 5-ton military truck
> and a half dozen military police were dispatched.
>
> Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News
> that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home
> on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his
> congressional district. According to Schneider, this was not part of
> Jefferson's initial request.
>
> Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents
> were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted
> that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him.
>
> "I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around
my city,"
> Jefferson told ABC News. "There was shooting going on. There was sniping
> going on. They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both
> to the convention center the Superdome and uptown."
>
> The water reached to the third step of Jefferson's house, a military
> source familiar with the incident told ABC News, and the vehicle pulled up
> onto Jefferson's front lawn so he wouldn't have to walk in the water.
> Jefferson went into the house alone, the source says, while the soldiers
> waited on the porch for about an hour.
>
> Finally, according to the source, Jefferson emerged with a laptop
> computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small
> refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.
>
>
>
> Two weeks later, the vehicle's tire tracks were still visible on the lawn.
>
> The Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News the truck became stuck as it
> waited for Jefferson to retrieve his belongings.
>
>
>
> The soldiers signaled to helicopters in the air for aid. Military sources
> say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to Jefferson's
> home. The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents
> at the time.
>
>
>
> A rescue diver descended from the helicopter, but the congressman decided
> against going up in the helicopter, sources say. The pilot sent the diver
> down again, but Jefferson again declined to go up the helicopter.
>
>
>
> After spending approximately 45 minutes with Jefferson, the helicopter
> went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low
> on fuel and was forced to end its mission.
>
> "Forty-five minutes can be an eternity to somebody that is drowning, to
> somebody that is sitting in a roof, and it needs to be used its primary
> purpose during an emergency," said Hauer.
>
> Jefferson's Homes Searched in Unrelated Investigation
>
>
> In an unrelated matter, authorities have recently searched Jefferson's
> property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a
> high-tech firm. Last month FBI officials raided Jefferson's house as well
> as his home in Washington, D.C., his car and his accountant's house.
>
>
>
>
>
>

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