James Bovard in the American Spectator, September 1996:

More than 400,000 southern Californians received [Federal Emergency Management Agency] checks averaging $2,800 [following the January 1994 Northridge earthquake]. Thousands of unsuspecting homeowners received checks for $3,450 out of the blue. When the Los Angeles Times broke the story of these unsolicited "accelerated disaster housing" payments on February 3, 1994, FEMA announced that same day that it would stop sending money to people who had not requested aid. However, FEMA spokesman Morrie Goodman denied any mistakes were made: "Anyone who says an error was made doesn't know what they are talking about. We received very, very few calls from people who felt they didn't need the aid." He defended the policy: "We felt, as an agency, it was better to send the check than to wait until we had inspectors out there." Forbes reported last year that of these unsolicited checks, "6,590 went to families whose homes weren't even damaged enough to be covered." Although FEMA eventually asked for the checks to be sent back, a spokesman says the agency can't say how many were returned.

FEMA also permitted many homeowners to double-dip—that is, to collect both insurance payments for home damage as well as a hefty federal grant for the same costs. Investor's Business Daily reported in May 1994: "FEMA shelter checks, which subsidize rent for alternative housing and cover up to $10,000 for minor household repairs, have been cut with no questions asked about the resident's property insurance or income."

[Ed.: Questioned about the giveaways two years later in a follow-up by the San Diego Union-Tribune, Mr. Goodman suggested that they could still be put to good use, perhaps subsidizing "crisis counseling" for the untouched Southern Californians who had to recover from the distressing sight of their neighbors' cracked driveways and drooping decks. Southern California, Mr. Bovard astutely points out, is "vote-rich."]

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