Los Angeles Daily News
Ignoring California
State denied fair share, again
Thursday, February 03, 2005 - When Florida got hit by a string of hurricanes early last fall, President George W. Bush rushed to the Sunshine State to offer his condolences -- and the nation's checkbook.
Yes, it was right before the presidential elections. Yes, Florida was a battleground state that could have swung the election either red or blue. Yes, the president's brother Jeb is the governor. Yes, the losses were massive. All those things are true, and so was the fact that the communities flattened by the gale winds really needed the federal relief.
Now California needs that same sort of attention, and it's not getting quite the hop-to. Nearly a month after the deluge of rain that wiped out whole communities, destroyed 215 homes and damaged 1,200 houses from Ventura to San Bernardino, the state hasn't received a penny in federal disaster relief.
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Not to dismiss Florida's needs in the wake of the hurricanes, but what's going on? This smacks of favoritism. California routinely suffers from its distance from Washington, D.C. Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be the theory.
California consistently receives the lowest (tied with New York) amount of federal funding per dollar of federal taxes paid. The inequity by the federal government must end, and it should begin with speedy attention to the still-hurting communities of Southern California.
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