Saturday, July 22, 2006
Editorial: FEMA keeps an eye on speech, not crime
Huricane survivors stuck in federal trailer parks must have big daddy FEMA present when talking to reporters.
From the RoundTable blog
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Many Gulf Coast residents displaced by last year's hurricanes still live in trailer parks set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA charges them high rent, though: It costs them their constitutional rights to have a roof over their heads.
Reporters from The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate recently visited a nearby trailer park to speak with residents. To their surprise, FEMA officials insisted on being present for the interviews.
A FEMA spokeswoman told the Associated Press that department policy is not to allow residents to speak with news reporters alone. Americans displaced by hurricanes may not invite certain people into their homes because the government says so.
Old friends? OK.
Reporters? You'll need a government chaperone.
The First Amendment usually prohibits this sort of thing, but these days, executive departments do not hold the Constitution in the same regard they used to.
The policy conflicts with three of the five protections in the First Amendment: press, speech and peaceable assembly. Send a FEMA monitor to make sure trailer residents pray correctly and do not petition their government for redress of grievances, and the department could nail all five.
What could the agency fear that trailer residents might tell reporters?
Well, there's the breakdown of law enforcement. Crime and drugs fester in the parks, ruining lives and making life all the harder for honest citizens trying to get by in a bad situation. But that's no secret. A number of news outlets have reported on it. Just this week, National Public Radio did a big story.
There's the fiscal mismanagement at the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA. It's no secret either. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' independent investigative arm, reported this week on massive misspending on things like dog booties, iPods, designer rain jackets and even a beer brewing kit. The report singled out 107 laptops and a dozen boats valued at $378,000 bought by FEMA that have disappeared.
Crime, drugs and waste that might embarrass FEMA do not override the simple fact that those trailers are people's homes. The identities of their houseguests are no business of the government. Residents do not waive their rights just because a storm forced them into government-owned housing.
Rather than worry about what more the public might find out, officials should focus on fixing problems.
