Thursday, August 21, 2008

Republicans buy votes with hurricane aid

Our public corruption in Florida can be studied scientifically. Yes, out at Stanford University a doctoral student in political science named Jowie Chen has figured out how to look at post-hurricane aid and how it affects voters' behavior, and it was posted on DailyKos Wednesday.

This was a superb demonstration of why we have blogs and why the word science can be used together with political and it's not an oxymoron. Those who look at the 42-page paper (there's a pdf link on the DailyKos post) will be stunned by the complex equations the author developed to take into account wind speed from Hurricane Charley in 2004 and other variables. The report also has beautiful graphically enhanced maps of Florida showing the path of the storm and data reflecting 2.6 million applications for FEMA disaster assistance.

The conclusion was that Republican precincts got more aid. What else would we expect with Republicans in charge in Washington and Tallahassee?

The Kos post also is puzzled that four Florida newspapers won a Freedom of Information suit to obtain the aid applications but none of them has published an analysis. Any thoughts?

UPDATE: And let's not forget Fay. Here's news in Thursday's Miami Herald of Gov Crist's start on getting federal aid for this very wet storm. How about enlisting our Democrats in the state legislature and our CFO Alex Fink to watch over the disbursement?

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