Congressman who demanded Katrina funds opposes Sandy aid

Congressman Steven Palazzo of Mississippi may be the biggest hypocrite on Capitol Hill. I know, that’s saying a lot. But Palazzo has been called out for supporting -- in fact, demanding – federal aid for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005 and voting against assistance for Hurricane Sandy last week.

The Sun Herald in Biloxi is reporting that, as the chief financial officer for the Biloxi Public Housing Authority, Palazzo insisted that the feds “send us money” -- $38.5 million was his precise demand – to repair damaged housing on Mississippi’s Gulf coast.

According to the Sun Herald, the housing authority composed a handout that listed “Total Funds Needed Right Away.”

Palazzo, a tea party Republican, was quoted in the flyer: "Tell our national leaders -- don't send more inspectors -- we know what's damaged and how to fix it. Send us money so we can put our families back together and do our part to rebuild our community."

In her piece published earlier this week, Sun Herald reporter Anita Lee wrote that public housing relief in Mississippi eventually totaled $110 million for the state’s three coastal counties. Harrison County, where Palazzo is from, received $72 million in funding for public housing alone, according to figures compiled in 2010.

On Friday, Palazzo was among those House Republicans who opposed funding billions of dollars in flood insurance claims for Sandy victims unless the aid was offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Obviously, he was opposed to offsets when Katrina hit Mississippi’s coastline in August 2005.

In the 2010 elections, Palazzo defeated then-Rep. Gene Taylor by linking Taylor to Nancy Pelosi and bashing the House Democratic leader.