ROAD HOME RAGE- Latest snafu sets off a civil war in the state Capitol
by Stephanie Grace - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

It hardly seems possible, but the bureaucracy in charge of hurricane recovery in Louisiana has reached a new level of dysfunction.

The blame game is no longer just a contest pitting the state against the federal government and the localities. These days, it's also state government vs. state government, gubernatorial appointees vs. gubernatorial staff vs. the Legislature -- all against the backdrop of a looming $3-$4 billion shortfall in the Road Home rebuilding/buyout program, which, as usual, is the crux of the problem.

At issue during the latest skirmish was the program's most recent, and one of its most egregious, snafus.

Without anybody in power seeming to know about it, the Road Home was requiring applicants who choose the buyout provision to purchase a new home within 90 days, or risk incurring a whopping 40 percent penalty.

Walter Leger, the LRA's outspoken housing chairman who said he hadn't heard of the onerous requirement until this week, labeled it a whole lot of "foolishness" and lashed out at OCD.

" 'It's LRA policy' -- that's their answer to everything," Leger said at the LRA board's Thursday meeting, where it ordered the 90 day period doubled to 180 days. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of it."

Tired too, apparently, are members of the state Senate's Local, Municipal and Parochial Affairs committee. Even as the LRA was meeting to iron out the snafu, the legislative committee voted to abolish the panel.