Study of Quake-Recovery Expenses Yields Controversial Results

With the costly Northridge earthquake fresh in their minds, congressional Republicans are looking for ways to reduce federal expenses the next time a big disaster hits.

A new study prepared by the General Accounting Office at the request of GOP lawmakers offers some cost-cutting tips, some of them intensely controversial.

The report, for instance, proposes eliminating future disaster assistance to private hospitals, private universities and publicly owned stadiums.

Such changes would have had a significant effect had they been in place during the 1994 Northridge quake.

FEMA spent hundreds of millions of dollars repairing quake-damaged hospitals, both public and private. And the biggest single repair tab for a public building--more than $80 million--was for the reconstruction of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The GAO study, requested by Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), also says that the government should clarify its rules to reduce confusion over what it will and will not cover.

After the Northridge quake, for instance, there was a major dispute over which building standards the Federal Emergency Management Agency ought to use when reconstructing damaged properties. The state of California wanted FEMA to adhere to stricter code standards approved after the earthquake in rebuilding hospitals. FEMA contended that it was not bound by the new codes.

Bond, chairman of the Senate subcommittee overseeing FEMA, said it is important to iron out such disputes before another big disaster hits.

“We cannot afford fiscally sloppy or inconsistent procedures for providing disaster relief,” he said. “Such practices result in unequal treatment for applicants, slow assistance for legitimate requests and unfairness to taxpayers.”

The 68-page report offers ideas for policymakers to consider as they grapple with the appropriate role for the federal bureaucracy in the wake of natural disasters. Already, Bond has asked FEMA Director James Lee Witt to come up with his own plan by the fall for controlling disaster costs.

Responding to the GAO report, Witt said tightening eligibility would be contentious.

“Some of the options you suggest will severely affect benefits to the states and their citizens and are, therefore, likely to be opposed by some in Congress,” Witt said in an addendum to the report. “In addition, the more FEMA attempts to tighten eligibility by closely prescribing every possibility, the more we will appear bureaucratic and inflexible.”

Understanding Offenders

Given her advocacy of laws to protect women and children, it might seem out of character to find Assemblywoman Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) speaking out against a proposal that would require chemical castration for two-time child molesters.

Yet, Kuehl’s understanding of the pathology of sex offenses was what led her to rise on the state Assembly floor recently to oppose such legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena).

The bill “presupposes sexual assault, rape or child molestation is sexually based,” Kuehl explained. “My understanding is that they are much more about domination and power.”

Hoge, meanwhile, has heralded the bill as a “historic measure in the battle against repeat child molesters.”

The legislation, which faces an uncertain fate in the state Senate, would require repeat child molesters to take Depo-Provera, a synthetic version of a female hormone, before they are paroled from prison.

The drug regimen must be continued regularly--and indefinitely--to inhibit testosterone production. Doing so blunts the sex drive and often causes temporary impotence.

The hormone also has side effects similar to menopause, raising questions about how diligent parolees would be about taking it over the long run.

As an alternative, convicted child molesters could opt for surgical castration.

While there is some evidence that chemical castration has been effective in Europe, many experts are skeptical. They say the pedophile’s urges emanate from his brain, not his groin. “It’s a mistake to confuse the urge to commit violence with the urge for sex,” Kuehl said.

How Not to Do It

The Los Angeles City Council got an earful this week during a hearing on a plan to impose a tax that would raise $750 million over 30 years to improve parks and street lighting.

The proposal got off to a bad start last month when city officials sent out notices to 826,000 Los Angeles property owners notifying them about the hearing. It seems someone forgot to say that the council was simply considering putting the proposal on the November ballot.

So on Tuesday, about 300 angry taxpayers showed up at City Hall to protest the fee. Even after they learned that the plan would have to be approved by voters, the protesters criticized the council for even considering a new fee.

Marc Winters of Chatsworth told the council that the city would have more to spend on parks and lighting if the city were a bit more efficient.

To prove his point, Winters held up a fist full of envelopes. He explained that the city had sent him 25 notices for the hearing.

Mail Drop

It was with great fanfare that the Los Angeles Police Commission recently appointed veteran attorney Katherine Mader to serve as the LAPD’s first-ever inspector general--a job crucial to the implementation of the recommendations made by the Christopher Commission after the Rodney King beating.

But sometimes it takes time to get noticed.

A day after Mader was appointed and introduced at a press conference, Councilwoman Laura Chick wrote her a letter to congratulate and welcome her to the department. The letter was sent through the city’s interoffice mail system.

Three days later, Chick’s office got the letter back, emblazoned with the words: “Return to Sender. Addressee Unknown.”

*

Quotable: “I think the lesson is that city officials can’t forget the rule that all politics are local and they need to talk to the people.”

--Seattle City Councilwoman Tina Podlodowski on the secession movement in her city

*

Lacey reported from Washington, D.C., Hill-Holtzman and Martin from Los Angeles.