In vowing to continue Mississippi recovery efforts followingHurricane Katrina, Gov. Haley Barbour Monday suggested a Louisianaofficial was trying to “change the subject” in talking aboutMagnolia State corruption while defending her state’s recoveryrecord.

Following a meeting last night at the State Room, Barbourresponded to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s comments, aired on a NewOrleans television station, regarding federal response to theAugust 2005 hurricane and characterization of Louisiana as thenation’s most corrupt state.

“Mississippi is actually the most corrupt state in the Union,but you never hear that because there’s political undertone abouthaving Mississippi look so good and having Louisiana not look sogood at the national level,” Landrieu, D-La., told station WWL.

Barbour said Landrieu’s Mississippi corruption reference camefrom a five-year-old report on prosecutions of publicofficials.

The first-term governor did not elaborate on the report.However, he intimated stronger prosecution of cases in Mississippifive years ago could have influenced its standing in relation tohow other states handle incidents of public corruption.

Landrieu’s comments followed similar statements last week fromLouisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who also criticized the federalresponse to Katrina and claimed Mississippi was getting adisproportionate share of recovery funds.

Barbour reiterated comments he made last week regarding Blanco’scomments. He pointed out that Louisiana copied Mississippi’srecovery program and said Mississippi is further along in gettinggrants to homeowners.

In Mississippi, Barbour said over 10,000 of approximately 17,000grant applications had been proposed. In contrast, he said fewerthan 300 of more than 100,000 applications in Louisiana forHurricanes Katrina and Rita had been.

“I can understand why Mary Landrieu wants to change thesubject,” Barbour said.