New Orleans, La.-- Aug. 25, 2008 -- Congressman Steve Scalise canceled a public event today at the 17th Street Canal to discuss levee reconstruction, claiming the weather was just too much of a threat.
Jim Harlan, who is running for the First Congressional District seat, scolded Scalise earlier in the morning about wasting taxpayer money on a tour of hurricane devastation that repeats a tour that his colleagues in Congress already took last month - when Scalise decided to take a trip to Alaska.
"I don't understand why he canceled at the last minute," said Harlan, who pointed out the sunny skies overhead Monday afternoon.
In July, a delegation of influential Congressional leaders, including committee chairs who hold the federal purse strings, toured New Orleans and met with public officials to discuss the ongoing hurricane recovery and protection needs of the region. Gov. Bobby Jindal saw the importance of the event and met with the group. Scalise, whose district includes Hurricane Katrina devastated areas was absent, choosing instead to fly to Alaska for a Republican photo opportunity trip about drilling in ANWR.
Calls to Scalise's office were answered with confused reports about the cancellation and vague promises to hold the event sometime in the future. Scalise's office updated his Congressional website posting about the event this afternoon with the cancellation.
"Maybe Scalise didn't want to stand in front of flood gate pumps that engineers and residents alike say are inadequate and likely to fail under hurricane conditions," said Harlan, an engineer with 30 years of real world business experience. "Scalise's job is to do something about those pumps, to make sure the people of Lakeview and Metairie are protected. Where has he been? What has he done? He needs to show much more focus on fixing the problem, less on partisan posturing and photo op trips."
Harlan, an independent-minded, self-made business man who developed energy policy in both the Reagan and Carter administrations, does not want to go to Washington as part of a self-serving ambition to climb the ranks in his party.
"There's a tough job to be done," Harlan said. "And the citizens of Louisiana, who have been through enough, deserve a proven, problem-solving leader to do the job. That person is me."
