Surprise Visit to Claims Office in Dublin, OH

 

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by Debbie Williams | 3339 views

Published: Mon, February 14, 2011 - 6:39 pm CST Last Updated: Mon, February 14, 2011 - 6:42 pm CST

Getting answers about the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Florida representative Doug Broxson took a trip to Dublin, Ohio to find out what really goes on at that branch of the GCCF. The unannounced visit was not welcomed by folks at the facility or Kenneth Feinberg.

Debbie Williams

DUBLIN, Ohio - "Mr. Feinberg, this is not a stunt. This is an effort to be transparent."
Florida state lawmaker Doug Broxson arrived in Dublin, Ohio unannounced he says, to unravel a mystery.

"What happens to a person's claim once they submit it? Where does it go? How is it processed and how is it that one claim of the exact same nature can be rejected and another claim is accepted?"

His arrival caused quite a stir and an angry phone call from Kenneth Feinberg.

"When you get no answers, you get no straight answers," Broxson told Feinberg on the phone, "hundreds of people denied for no reason, you use desperate means and that is what I'm doing."

Broxson did make it inside the building. He says there are 800 people on phones but the decisions of who gets paid and how much are not made here.

"Mr. Feinberg invited me to Washington where he says he and four other people made the decision of 500 thousand claims."

"If that is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, that is preposterous." Orange Beach mayor Tony Kennon was suppose to make the trip with Broxson but city business forced him to stay at city hall. But he fully supports Broxson's efforts.

"Mr. Feinberg thinks we are out to embarrass him and you know what, he's right. If I can embarrass him and show that he's not doing the job that he's being paid to do then I'm going to do that in any way I can."

Broxson says he feels more like an investigator than an elected official. "We're trying to bring the system to something that works." And he'll go wherever the case takes him to get the answers he says the gulf coast deserves.

Representative Broxson will have another shot at Feinberg Friday when the claims czar is scheduled to be in Tallahassee to meet with lawmakers and the Florida attorney general.