Watch: Mitt Romney Proposes Gutting FEMA and Leaving Disaster Relief to States

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

So..this is hurricane spin #3 for this thread? Really good!

My town has a piece of land that flooded several times.. We stopped building on it.. It may have flooded again.. Not sure because NOBODY CARES.

So Peabody flooded in 1996, 1998, 2001, and 2004, and 2006, and apparently many times before that and I didn't check after that... FEMA also rejected a project to shore up Peabody, and when Romney proposed 2 million for Peabody in 2005 it was removed by the state legislature.

.. anyway hopefully we can get that graphic modified?

Now you have gone and told the truth. That is like turning on the light in a roach infested room. They scatter. Why would they not relocate if it floods 5 times in 6 years. Thanks for that. Most of commies posts from extreme left sources are like Bull Manure. You know it stinks and its a warm pile, but after a while you don't have time to goggle and post to prove it because there are so many.

[DaveE 178]

If it was really important to the legislature, they would have overridden the veto. There was a veto proof legislature during his entire term.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

WASHINGTON -- In the spring of 2004, Peabody, Mass., got drenched with rain, which flooded the downtown area. After the storm, then-Gov. Mitt Romney asked President George W. Bush to declare Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk Counties federal disaster areas, according to the Boston Globe.

That fall, the state legislature proposed spending $5.7 million on a flood prevention project to protect against future floods. Those funds would be matched by $22 million in federal money.

Romney vetoed it. This week, Romney has come under fire for suggesting that the federal government get out of the business of disaster relief. But his record in Massachusetts doesn't lend much support to the suggestion that states can handle it alone.

During the time of the Peabody fight, John Barrett, then the Democratic mayor of North Adams, was the vice president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association. He said the issue of flooding in Peabody was critical and that local officials had reached out to the legislature for help. "Every time it rained, it wiped out their downtown," Barrett told HuffPost.

Barrett chalked Romney's veto of the Peabody project up to a lack of familiarity with infrastructure in the state.

"This was not unusual for him. He didn’t understand infrastructure improvements. It was just the bottom line. He never visited communities. He never understood the issues. He never sat down with mayors or city managers. He never understood why those things were in the budget," Barrett said. "That money was requested by locals. It was a major league problem.”

Dan Bosley, a former Democratic state representative in Western Massachusetts, agreed. "I think it was just the fact that Romney didn't understand these issues." He said he never saw Romney out with a rain slicker checking on towns like current Gov. Deval Patrick has done.

"I don't think it was because he was heartless, he just didn't know. That's how he ran his state," Bosley said. "His understanding of why you have government, I don't think he ever had it."

The Boston Globe reported that September that local officials were outraged, and doubly insulted that Romney claimed to have vetoed the money due to a lack of sufficient information.

Peabody officials yesterday lashed out at Governor Mitt Romney's decision to block $5.7 million to pay for a flood control project in downtown Peabody. Romney blocked the money as part of $76 million in election-year spending he vetoed last week. At a State House press conference Friday, Romney said he had tried to contact Peabody officials to obtain more information about the funding, but was unable to reach anyone. Yesterday, state Senator Frederick E. Berry said ... "We hand-delivered all kinds of information. They had all the information they needed ... I don’t want to use the word 'lie,' but ... how he could say he didn't get the information? That's not true." Yesterday, Romney's communications director, Eric Ferhnstrom, said the governor stands by his statement. "Governor Romney is not a rubber stamp for the expenditure of taxpayer funds. If there is no information to support a particular expenditure, our inclination is to be cautious and to wait until a rationale is put forward," Ferhnstrom said. "In this case, we endeavored to get answers to our questions but none were forthcoming. We would be happy to take another look and if it appears to be a necessary and worthwhile expense we will include it in the next" spending bill the administration proposes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/10/30/mitt-romney-flooding_n_2042886.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

Edited October 31, 2012 by Commie Appeaser

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

No! Please post new stuff in new threads!! I was so disappointed I did not get my well researched daily dose of out-of-context and skewed hatred for all those right of center.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

That's your rebuttal? You made the claim that it was just spin about Romney mishandling of disaster relief and prevention. The above statements show that he clearly ignored the issue - his excuse is that he vetoed the funds because he didn't have enough information. He didn't bother to visit the area as governor. He didn't bother to meet with local officials to survey the damage. The only thing spinning is your incessant need to be on the right side of every argument.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

FEMA doesn't do rescues.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

FEMA doesn't do rescues.

You don't do rescues.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

You don't do rescues.

I did. I have two Humanitarian Service Medals.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I did. I have two Humanitarian Service Medals.

Well. Sh*t.

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

except - that's not peabody, mass in the pic.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

FEMA doesn't do rescues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMA_Urban_Search_and_Rescue_Task_Force

[decocker 7,198]

except - that's not peabody, mass in the pic.

some help, the pic would be the it in "how would romney handle it" as in sandy - what just happened..

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMA_Urban_Search_and_Rescue_Task_Force

Something new, at least for me. According to your link, however, FEMA only sponsors those teams. They are actually created and run by local agencies. Like I posted before, FEMA just writes the checks.

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

some help, the pic would be the it in "how would romney handle it" as in sandy - what just happened..

a better question at this moment is how obama's handling it