“The police forces aren’t getting their money.”
By Robert Tanner, The Associated Press
The nation’s mayors and state authorities are trading barbs over homeland security funding, with a top state official likening mayors to squabbling children and mayors saying that states are sitting on money promised to cities.
The federal cash is aimed at making the country better able to detect and prevent terrorist actions, but mayors say they’re not getting what they need. Governors get the money from the federal government, then parcel it out within their states.
Washington state Adjutant Gen. Tim Lowenberg, who oversees homeland security there, compared complaining mayors Wednesday to 6-year-old children in a soccer game. “Everyone’s focused now on how to kick the ball, the money ball,” he said. “They are all kicking themselves in the shins to get it.”
The executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Tom Cochran, said the comparison to a game was “an insult. And most unprofessional.” The conference’s surveys have found that many cities haven’t gotten federal funds for so-called first responders like police and airport security.
“Here’s the bottom line,” Cochran said. “Two-thirds of the police forces aren’t getting their money. That is a fact.”
State homeland security chiefs and governors dispute that, however. They question the conference’s research, argue that some mayors don’t understand the law, and say that some mayors received the money but didn’t know it.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, trying to smooth the waters, met privately with governors over the weekend in Washington and asked them to more quickly get the money to cities, and to better track the funds.
“He reminded them of their responsibility to get the money out in a very timely fashion,” said Ridge spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. “A lot of this appears to be coordination and communication issues between the mayors and the governors.”
Bush asked for $40.2 billion for homeland security nationwide next year.
The conference’s survey of 215 cities found that more than three-quarters had not received any of the $1.5 billion in federal funds already promised for first responders, and significant numbers hadn’t received their share for port or airport security, either.
Counties have also complained that they haven’t gotten needed money.
“If we’re about protecting this nation against the terrorists, and we do believe there’s a terrorist threat, then the governors should be mandated to bring the mayors to the table,” Cochran said. “There’s no communication.”
George Foresman, Virginia’s homeland security chief, acknowledged that some states have moved too slowly to release funds, while some city administrations have not applied for the money, as required.
“Everybody is quick to point out where the system is broken,” he said. “My message is ... where is it not working? Is it not working because of the process, or systems, or technology? And how do we fix it? The bottom line is we have a limited amount of time here to get this done.”