New Yorkers and Washingtonians are pissed. They have to bear the brunt of the cuts in Department of Homeland Security funding. Evidently, NYC has no "national landmarks and icons". Hillary and Rep. King (R-NY) have been
sending postcards to Chertoff, of all of the tourist traps and world-famous landmarks like the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Stock Exchange, Ellis Island, the UN, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center and Broadway. It is absolutely ridiculous that they have to even be waging this fight.
When you are striking a deal you know it is fair when all sides end up unhappy. So who is unhappy in this case? Well, NY and DC. The rest of the mayors are positively delighted and say there was no politics at work in the process.
Bullshit.
From the NYT:
"This is an issue that affects the whole country," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
His region will be receiving $8.6 million this year, up from last year's grant of $6.3, and the bulk of the funds will be used to help the five-county region improve communications between emergency agencies, he said.
So Milwaukee needs more cash, but DC and NY need less?
The Charlotte, N.C., region received $9 million this year, up from last year's grant of $5.5 million.
"It was a very fair process and we went through a peer review," said Charlotte Fire Chief Luther L. Fincher, who also serves as the area's homeland security director.
"I don't know what New York and Washington's programs are, or whether they have been spending their money wisely. I'm not a judge of that," he said. "I know they have a lot of things to protect up there, but so do we."
I honestly have not spent much time in Charlotte, so I really couldn't tell you if you have a lot of things to protect. But, that is the point isn't it. Terrorists will strike at symbolic places so that their destruction has a much bigger impact then the physical results. If 200 people die in Charlotte because a terrorist blew up their most well known landmark, it does not matter as much as if they blew up the Brooklyn Bridge and killed the same number.
Look, I am not arguing that cities like Milwaukee and Charlotte don't need protection. I am arguing that most cities should have had to share the pain of the cuts. So far DHS has made no rational argument that DC and NY were over funded. The article seems to imply that the funding could have been cut because the spending plans by the two cities were not well thought out. I have a hard time believing that, but if someone has a better explaination for the DHS allocation I am all ears. Until then, this looks like pork for the red states.