No surprise here

The L.A. Times reports on the makeup of the panels that determined how to spend Katrina reconstruction money. And as seems too common, those who stood to gain were the ones making the decisions:

Lobbyists representing transportation, energy and other special interests dominated panels that advised Louisiana's U.S. senators crafting legislation to rebuild the storm-damaged Gulf Coast, records and interviews show.

The Louisiana Katrina Reconstruction Act — introduced last month by Louisiana Sens. Mary L. Landrieu, a Democrat, and David Vitter, a Republican — included billions of dollars' worth of business for clients of those lobbyists and a total price tag estimated as high as $250 billion...

"I was basically shocked," said Ivor van Heerden, director of a hurricane public health research center at Louisiana State University. "What do lobbyists know about a plan for the reconstruction and restoration of Louisiana?"

Van Heerden was the first participant of any of the senators' working groups to provide such a detailed and scathing account of the process and its outcome. He said he was shut out after he voiced his concerns.

The article goes on to point out that the end result was a bill which includes loads of funding for controversial proposals including a canal project, highways, and giveaways to power companies. Lest there be any doubt, the pork is a bipartisan effort...showing that whatever principled differences there are between the two U.S. parties, the tendency toward blatant opportunism is one of the great common features.

Unfortunately, the result is a set of handouts and megaprojects which primarily benefits people completely different from those who suffered the most from Katrina. Meanwhile, the poor of New Orleans (for want of their own lobbyists) appear likely to be left out of the reconstruction benefits.