WEINER WALLOPS SECURITY WA$TE

By Leela de Kretser

Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner said yesterday he wants to change the way federal homeland-security dollars are doled out to states.

"If Alice in Wonderland was allocating funds, this is what she'd come up with," said Rep. Weiner (D-Qns./B'klyn) as he stumped in Times Square.
"People have to come back to reality rather than give lump sums to states. What we should do is get everyone to submit their proposals, then [the] Homeland Security [Department] should rank them in order of priority."

The current homeland-security spending formula gives a certain portion of funds equally to every state, and another portion based on population.
Weiner said this formula has led to states that face little risk from terrorism receiving more money than they need — and spend it on ridiculous programs.

Some of the more bizarre projects were:

• Washington, D.C., spending $100,000 on a rap song to teach children emergency preparedness.
• Newark, N.J., spending $300,000 on air-conditioned garbage trucks.
• The Transportation Security Administration spending $500,000 on artwork, plants, kitchen appliances and fitness equipment.