GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Friday it is “time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station” and urged an end to the federal aid to the region that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina two years ago.

“The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called ‘recovery’ efforts has been mind-boggling,” said Tancredo, who is running a long-shot presidential campaign. “Enough is enough.”

It’s been a gravy train for someone, but not for the little people on the ground who had their lives wiped out by a storm. That gravy train ran out of fuel before it got to that level.

“At some point, state and local officials and individuals have got to step up to the plate and take some initiative,” said Tancredo. “The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end.”

The lawmaker criticized in particular the amount that has been wasted through fraud and abuse, estimated at $1 billion.

“This whole fiasco has been a perfect storm of corruption and incompetence at all levels,” he added.

Just $1 billion in fraud and abuse? Of the $114 billion spent on supposed reconstruction, I’d say that was a damn drop in the bucket. The level the corruption and incompetence started was at the top. For example: The government hired contractors to haul away debris. They paid them some $175 a ton to haul it off. These contractors hired sub-contractors, who hired sub-contractors, who hired sub-contractors, and by the time a truck rolled onto the street to actually pick up and move the debris, those guys were only getting paid $5 a ton for hauling … and not because they hired so many of them, but because that was all there was left to pay them after everyone took their slice of the pie as the money kept changing hands. I’ve followed the money-trail. The abuse starts with FEMA and the government. People at the bottom of the pile getting a few thousand more here and there that they shouldn’t have for living expenses and stuff doesn’t even compare to the wastefulness and flat out corruption within the agencies meant to help the Gulf Coast get put back together. The fact so much has been spent and so little accomplished is not the fault of the people who are still living in trailers that leak formaldehyde two years after the storm hit. If Mr. Tancredo wants the gravy train to stop, he needs to look more closely at who has been eating the gravy.