Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-fema-florida-naples-sinan-gursoy

For months, the complaints have rolled in from parts of the country hit by natural disasters: The Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving far too slowly in sending aid to communities ravaged by floods and hurricanes, including in central Texas and North Carolina. Many officials were blaming Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, whose agency oversees FEMA.

“I can’t get phone calls back,” Ted Budd, the Republican senator from North Carolina, told a newspaper this month, describing his attempts to reach Noem’s office. “I can’t get them to initiate the money. It’s just a quagmire.” The delays were caused in part by a new policy announced by DHS that requires Noem’s personal sign-off on expenses over $100,000, several news outlets reported.

But records obtained by ProPublica show how one locality found a way to get FEMA aid more quickly: It asked one of Noem’s political donors for help.

The records show that Noem quickly expedited more than $11 million of federal money to rebuild a historic pier in Naples, Florida, after she was contacted by a major financial supporter last month. The pier is a tourist attraction in the wealthy Gulf Coast enclave and was badly damaged by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

(snip)

Noem’s actions in Naples suggest the injection of political favoritism into an agency tasked with saving lives and rebuilding communities wiped out by disaster. It also heightens concerns about the discretion Noem has given herself by personally handling all six-figure expenses at the agency, consolidating her power over who wins and loses in the pursuit of federal relief dollars, experts said.

(snip)

Noem’s top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, also appears to own a home in Naples near the city’s pier, according to property tax records. Lewandowski is an unpaid staffer at DHS serving as Noem’s de facto chief of staff. (Media reports have alleged the two are romantically involved, which they have both denied.) Lewandowski told ProPublica that he was not involved in the pier decision and that he was not in Naples during Noem’s visit.

EXCERPT

I used to like Noem based on how she stood up to the CDC in 2020 but she has become totally corrupt ever since she literally jumped into bed with Lewandowski.

[Smokin Joe]

https://www.propublica.org/article/kristi-noem-fema-florida-naples-sinan-gursoy

EXCERPT

I used to like Noem based on how she stood up to the CDC in 2020 but she has become totally corrupt ever since she literally jumped into bed with Lewandowski.

Either that, or Lewandowski is the problem and making it look like Noem is. Bad counsel makes for bad actions.

[Timber Rattler]

Either that, or Lewandowski is the problem and making it look like Noem is. Bad counsel makes for bad actions.

Honestly, I don't know what she sees in that creep except his proximity to Trump.

[Smokin Joe]

Honestly, I don't know what she sees in that creep except his proximity to Trump.

While Trump may be somewhat sensitized toward people undermining him after the last go-round, I'm not sure those working for him are. The Deep State will try to undermine him any way they can, and that includes setting up and taking out those working for him. They have just taken the perfidy to a different level.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Nothing new here.  Those with money cut to the front of the line.  That's why they make donations - to get access and influence.

[libertybele]

Nothing new here.  Those with money cut to the front of the line.  That's why they make donations - to get access and influence.

True enough. I am very disappointed in Noem.

[Smokin Joe]

True enough. I am very disappointed in Noem.

Who is at the bottom of this? Noem or  Lewandowski? Granted, like a sea captain, she is responsible for what happens on her watch, but she has been pretty busy and may have had something shoved under her nose by a trusted underling at just the 'right' moment for it to pass with little review.

If it's all her, yeah, I expected better, if it's a setup (the other end of the spectrum), it reeks of as little as a moment of carelessness and misplaced trust but there would be more to that. The deep State has been probing for any thin crack, and weakness it can send a tendril into to disrupt the Trump presidency since 2016, and that may not be quite as acutely evident to cabinet level folks.

Semper Vigilans