Congressman Billy Long Talks Trash

It was only a few weeks ago that Billy Long was put in his place by the Army Corps of Engineers when he criticized them for their flood control. A representative for the Corps told Long he didn't know what he was talking about in friendlier words.

The Springfield News-Leader reports from a meeting with the US Corps of Engineers:

During the meeting with commissioners, Long said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan for when to release or hold back water is outdated and does not make sense.

"It's counterintuitive," he said. "We're not supposed to flood farmland in Arkansas, but we'll flood homes in Branson. At the same time, we're blowing up levees (on the Mississippi River) to flood farms in Missouri to save homes in Cairo, Ill."

Long was referring to the fact that lakes along the White River, such as Table Rock, help prevent flooding in downstream farming communities such as Newport and Georgetown, Ark.

However, a representative for the US Army Corps of Engineers said Congressman Long has no clue what he is talking about.

Laurie Driver, a spokesperson for the Corps' Little Rock District, said that the two situations are not comparable.

"There is a White River plan and there is a Mississippi River plan," she said. "It's comparing apples to oranges."

In addition, she pointed out that the destroyed Birds Point levee was placed there, following devastating 1927 floods, with the specific intent to destroy the levee if needed.

Never fear, Billy Long has let bygones be bygones, traded the cowboy hat for a working-mans hat, and got the photo op with his friends from the Army Corps of Engineers.

My Congressman is bigger than your scrawny Congressman.

U.S. Rep. Billy Long of Missouri (right) hears about the process for removing debris from homes damaged by the May 22 tornado in Joplin, Mo., from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers quality assurance supervisor Kevin Baily July 1, 2011. Long toured debris removal sites in the disaster area with the commander of the Corps’ Joplin recovery effort, Col. Daniel Patton, and Corps debris removal staff. “It’s a lot more complicated than people would ever even fathom,” Long said of the debris removal process. “It’s a very impressive operation.” The Corps is managing debris removal as part of the federal tornado recovery effort. (U.S. Army Photo/Chris Gray-Garcia)

Talking trash is something Congressman Long understands and does well as evident in the 2010 Republican primary when he trashed the pro-life record of Jack Goodman and Gary Nodler and then further trashed Goodman's family friendly record with lies all after promising Scott Magill of the Missouri Republican Assembly he wouldn't run a negative campaign against fellow Republicans. Thus the Army Corps of engineers needed not comment about Long's understanding of the issue this time around.