The six-month contract for four cruise
ships to house refugees of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans did not
end quietly.
Last week, one
day before Carnival Cruise Lines three ships were slated to leave
New Orleans, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush requesting information and documents related to Bushs
role in awarding the $236 million contract to Carnival.
Waxmans action
came on the heels of a lawsuit filed on Feb. 24, just five days
before the March 1 deadline, by occupants of the Scotia Prince
asking a court to force the Federal Emergency Management Agency to
allow them to stay onboard. The suit alleges that FEMA has not yet
found housing for them once they leave the ship. A federal judge
had not made a decision on the case as of press time.
In his letter to
Bush, Waxman, the ranking minority member on the House Committee on
Government Reform, cited e-mails that Michael Brown, former FEMA
director, recently provided to Congress.
The e-mails
indicate that Bush was involved in Carnivals securing of the
charter contract.
No-bid
contract
Waxman maintains
that the contract was not competitively bid and ended up costing
taxpayers, on average, $240,000 to house a family of five for six
months.
The letter
reprinted e-mails between Bush and Ric Cooper, identified as an
advertising executive who represents Carnival and who gave $65,000
to the Republican Party of Florida.
Waxman requested
a timeline of Bushs contacts with Carnival and Brown plus the
original e-mail Cooper sent to the FEMA director suggesting the use
of Carnival ships in the disaster recovery.
Alia Faraj, Bushs
communications director, called Waxmans query ludicrous.
They reached out
to say, Governor, what can we do to help? We have the resources to
assist those that are displaced by the storm, Faraj said. The
governor forwarded that information to FEMA, and that was the
extent of it.
In a letter to
Congress in October, Carnival Cruise Lines President and CEO Bob
Dickinson said that the arrangement was profit neutral for
Carnival.
The baseless
controversy over the cruise ship charters is old news, Jennifer de
la Cruz, a Carnival spokesperson, said last week.
The ships have
played an effective and critical role in housing and feeding
thousands of people who desperately needed help, and we are
extremely gratified to have been there for them. The contracts were
competitively bid, and the process was open to every cruise
line.
To contact
reporter Johanna Jainchill, send e-mail to [email protected].