The Sun Herald of Wednesday, March 2 front-paged a story headlined "Claims rules for casino workers due Friday", by-lined Geoff Pender. Good news: the general feeling is that perhaps casino workers' claims will be handled in a positive way, though that is never actually stated in the article. Bad news: the process of paying claims will be postponed indefinitely yet again. The story contains way more questions than answers.
The first paragraph alone raises at least nine questions. gccf "Final Rules Governing Payment Options" were put in place a week and a half ago. Are casino claims actually going to be decided under a new and different set of "Rules"? If so, will the new rules be any better for us? How? Who is actually establishing the new rules? What criteria are being considered? Who, specifically, is advocating for casino workers? How much research has been done to determine the best ways to get the most money pumped into our Gulf Coast economy through these claims? If the new rules are actually finalized Friday, when and where will they be published? When will payment of casino workers' claims actually begin?
We are approaching a year from the time of the catastrophic blow-out. We have been fighting this claims fight since early October. With so much potential economic impact for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we must wonder where our concerned legislators have been for the last four months? There was some noise about being in session and not being aware of the two-week comment period. What? The comment period was announced well in advance, and any seriously concerned legislator should have been apprised and prepared well in advance. For those of us who have been suffering interminable delays for months, it was sad disappointment to see our elected officials delay the process yet again.
Are we "light years ahead of where we were 30 days ago"? Have we "come a long way in 30 days"? Perhaps. We should have been light years ahead 90 days ago when Mr. Feinberg came to town and announced that casino workers would be treated the same as all others. Only to have us all categorically denied within the next two weeks. We do believe that with the appointment of Bill Mulvey as gccf-casino liaison, our claims became payable. The "proposed methodology" stunk. The "Final Rules" gave us a little more hope. We made the "light years" leap 60 days ago. The last 30 days have offered us only more postponements and delays. We are very anxious to see the "final rules for casino workers" tomorrow to see if, perhaps, we will have made another giant leap, or if it is, again, just so much smoke.
There is very serious concern about the long-term health of our Gulf. We heartily applaud our legislators for fighting this fight. Obviously, final claims should be way beyond a "x 2" factor. Every sane person locally knows that our Gulf and our economy cannot possibly be healed in the next year. Who, specifically, is pushing for a much longer final claim factor? Is there any hope of getting a realistic final claim factor from the monolithic gccf? Who is pushing for a real bp clean-up of the Gulf floor?
Former Gov. William Winter "assured lawmakers that concerns and comments about the claims process would be evaluated every four months, and changes would be made regularly as a result". How will this really help anyone? Most of us need relief now. Very few will be able to play the Interim Claim game quarterly. gccf knows this and will continue to encourage final sign-offs in every way possible. "They also assured lawmakers any scientific reports of prolonged damage to the Gulf would extend damages and claims..." Again, like insurance companies, they are playing actuarial tables. Extended damages and claims would be available only to those who have not signed off for Final Claims. Most of us who have been damaged, desperately need money now. Most of us will sign off now, and "prolonged damage" won't cost them anything.
"Winter also said his firm would work closely with Coast legislators on their constituents' concerns and pass them along to Feinberg and bp." Has Feinberg ever changed anything based on concerns passed along? Could we not hope for more serious advocacy from our local law firm? "Watkins, Ludlam, Winter & Stennis, a Jackson-based law firm recently hired by bp claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg." Really? Why do we continue to even address and entertain co-opted counsel?
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