Saturday, September 25, 2010

Feinberg: "Bigger, Faster" Means Denial

The AP reported:

"Over the past few weeks, I have heard from the people of the Gulf, elected officials, and others that payments remain too slow and not generous enough," Feinberg said in a statement. "I am implementing new procedures that will make this program more efficient, more accelerated and more generous."

People in Orange Beach, Alabama aren't getting bigger, faster payments, they're getting Feinberg denial letters.

Anthony Kennon, mayor of hard-hit Orange Beach, Ala., said he wasn't moved by the news. He said people in his community need action now, and they don't feel they are getting it. 

Because tourism has taken such a hit in his community, doctors who rely on walk-in tourists for patients in the summer have seen business fall off a cliff. But, Kennon said those doctors' claims to the compensation fund are being summarily denied because of the type of industry they are in.

"I am having a hard time understanding how he is our advocate," Kennon said of Feinberg.

WKRG reported:

"The saga continues doesn't it." Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon was back on the phone with Kenneth Feinberg earlier today. "From what I understand the denials are based on proximity to the oil."

"We are a half a mile away from the gulf," says Silvers. "We are probably a third of the mile away from the bay. We had oil all around us."
Feinberg promised rapid and generous payments, yet he delivered denials based on industry and proximity to oil, merely hundreds of yards away.  


A public face hides the real story.  No matter how many local news pieces challenge the fiction, Feinberg, Allen & Dudley deliver their lines.  They'll do so until they are rotated out.  Leaders change frequently, a key part of the unaccountability game. 

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