Feinberg falls short of expectations, local officials say

Kenneth Feinberg, the man newly responsible for paying out BP claims, has been quoted as saying the only way he could earn Louisiana’s trust is to pay claims – simple talk doesn’t gain trust.

But it looks as though Feinberg may have over-promised and under-delivered, as many Louisiana residents who have already filed claims are still waiting for their money. Local government officials have not kept quiet about their disappointment in the process.

“I’ve been very disappointed with a number of things,” Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet told WWL-AM radio station last week. “I have been a big supporter of Ken Feinberg. I’ve meet with him three times in this area. I have spoken to many people to try to express to them to just listen to this guy, that he’s very credible, he’s going to try to make this right. And right off the bat, a number of things he has told us are not right.”

Beginning a laundry list of things deemed “not right” with Feinberg’s claims facility, Claudet mentioned the claims office in Chauvin that closed the same day he took over.

“[Feinberg] said no claims offices would close, and he closed our office in Chauvin. He said you weren’t going to need to resubmit documentation, and I have people who have had to resubmit documentation after they were told not to.”

Claudet also asked Feinberg to move the claims office in Hammond closer to the people in need of claims.

“Now it’s in Ohio,” Claudet said.

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph didn’t mince words either last week on WWL-AM about the importance of expediting these claims for the people who need them.

“He initially said he was going to be a much easier guy to deal with,” she said on air Thursday. “These funds will mean the difference between losing a house and keeping it. That’s how important this is.”

And although the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has paid more than $16.8 million as of Aug. 31, that amount only reflects 2,910 claims out of 35,105 filed.

“Mr. Feinberg told me some people in our area are lacking documentation, and that he needed at least some documentation,” said Claudet, who plans to have Feinberg discuss this issue when he returns to Houma Monday.

But documentation isn’t the biggest issue, according to the parish president.

“What bothers me the most is that he gave us statistics on the claims that have been paid, and they’ve paid now 892 claims to Florida,” Claudet said. Only 881 claims have been paid to Louisiana. Florida also submitted almost 400 more claims than Louisiana.

Claudet isn’t the only one who finds these statistics troubling, and said the money should go to the area affected, not the area with the most electoral votes.

“I’m concerned about disproportionate claims made by other states not as affected as Louisiana,” said District 51 Rep. Joe Harrison at a Government Affairs committee meeting last week. “Louisiana by far is the state that’s most impacted – our businesses, our banks, our institutions, our real estate. I see that Florida is putting a very large number that could very quickly take all of the money that’s in [the BP escrow] fund.”

Despite the wave of confusion that’s washed over Feinberg’s claims process, his promise to revisit Louisiana to take on these issues has, thus far, still held up.

“This job isn’t easy, but I’ve taken it on,” Feinberg said on his previous visit to Houma. “I’ll come back again to take on questions and issues – you cannot do this job in Washington.”

Feinberg will once again meet with the public at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center Monday. As of press time, an exact start for this meeting had not been determined.

Kenneth Feinberg, pictured in this file photo addressing a crowd at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, has locals angered at how he’s handling BP claims. FILE PHOTO