I heard one commentator mention that the authority for funding the levees in New Orleans had spent money on all kinds of other things, including casinos and had diverted funds to political cronies etc…
I googled it but couldn’t find any information.
Given that I think the levees broke in places where they had been inspected and were fully functional I’m not sure it would have mattered if money wasn’t always spent on what it should have been. If you have cat 3 levees in a cat 4 storm you are taking your chances. But I would be interested to know if there is any truth to the allegation that was made.
I believe that the levees are federally funded and maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. If that is the case then local politics (such as schools and casinos) would not come into play. I’ll google it in minute.
One can never be sure, but it is very very unlikely. Simply because the money comes from and is administered by the COE. What did happen, and there was nothing underhanded about it, is that at various times over the last few years the COE had money for various projects (or expected to be able to get the money from congress) if the local government came up with a local match. the local government didn’t always come up with the local match. happens all the time all over the country. I guess there is some case where a local government decided to spend their own money on economic development (read casinos or in Louisiana read video poker) rather than flood protection. Since I live here, I see that decision all the time. In my community, the local population three times voted down a property tax that would have generated $4 federal for every one local dollar for flood protection. Their choice.