Senator Takes the Credit, Lafayette Will Take the Money

Lafayette's Fire Department has been awarded $931,500 from the Department of Homeland Security. The grant comes from money doled out from a fund known as "Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response." (SAFER - cute.) Great news for Lafayette and thanks go to the local department and the officials who have.... oh wait, actually the city found out that thanks really go to U.S. Senator Wayne Allard's (R-Loveland) office. Read about it in the Lafayette News.

DHS didn't send the award message directly to Lafayette Fire Chief Gerry Morrell, or Mayor Chris Berry, or anyone else with the city. Instead, a press release regarding the award was issued by Allard's office, giving him the spotlight. "This Department of Homeland Security grant will help the Lafayette Fire Department add full-time firefighters, allowing the department to respond to fires and emergency situations in the community more effectively," the member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee let the newspapers, I mean Lafayette Fire Department, know.

Given there were over 1700 applicants from around the country and only 28 got any money, I'm certain (cough cough) Lafayette's needs were well justified and their grant proposal solidly written, more so than the Fire Department was the fortunate beneficiary of the Senator's savvy pork peddling. Comments elsewhere in the blogosphere raise questions as to why federal dollars presumably aimed at terrorism response found their way to an unlikely terrorist target like Lafayette. Point taken; the answer is that boosting emergency preparedness everywhere is the goal of the DHS.

There's no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth. Just expect Allard to remind everyone of how he helped out come next election cycle. Simply the way this all works...