How Did Michael Brown Become FEMA Director with Questionable Credentials?

[Skyhunter]

I'm not sure how you can really call his appointment controversial when congress put him there by a vote of..what 89 to 0? not sure the exact number of fors..by I know there were no against.

And if they had voted against him they would have been labeled obstructionist and suffered the "The president has a right to appoint who he wants." rhetoric that always accompanies any objection to Bush's appointees.

So now it is congresses fault?

Why do you keep trying to shift the blame?

Are you really that committed to the smirking chimp?

 

[TRCSF]

OK, I just saw this. Figured I'd put it in my own FEMA thread.

Tax dollars at work, ladies and gents.

http://www.fema.gov/kids/femarap.htm

 

[Skyhunter]

Taking a bigger picture, FEMA didn't do that bad a job responding in Florida last year, did he? Or were things better when only hit Florida instead of several states, simultaneously? (neighboring states are in a better position to help out). Or is Jeb Bush just better at handling hurricanes on his own than Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama? Or is the federal government just more responsive when a swing state is hit by disaster in an election year?

C-SPAN had a congresswoman from Florida on Wednesday with all kinds of proof that for Florida's disaster was more in line with Brownies qualifications, ie campaigning for Bush. I tried to find it on there site but it doesn't seem to be archived. I don't have time right now but if anyone can find it and post it you will See why FEMA did such a wonderful job.

One thing I remember was that they gave out twice as many checks for death benefits as people who were killed in the hurricane.

 

[TRCSF]

C-SPAN had a congresswoman from Florida on Wednesday with all kinds of proof that for Florida's disaster was more in line with Brownies qualifications, ie campaigning for Bush. I tried to find it on there site but it doesn't seem to be archived. I don't have time right now but if anyone can find it and post it you will See why FEMA did such a wonderful job.

One thing I remember was that they gave out twice as many checks for death benefits as people who were killed in the hurricane.

Ha ha! That's great.

 

[BobG]

C-SPAN had a congresswoman from Florida on Wednesday with all kinds of proof that for Florida's disaster was more in line with Brownies qualifications, ie campaigning for Bush. I tried to find it on there site but it doesn't seem to be archived. I don't have time right now but if anyone can find it and post it you will See why FEMA did such a wonderful job.

One thing I remember was that they gave out twice as many checks for death benefits as people who were killed in the hurricane.

You're talking about http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=12590&category=Local%20News where FEMA paid out $30 million to 10,000 Miami-Dade residents (the hurricane missed them by a hundred miles) and paid for funerals of folks still living.

Of course, payback is... http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/03/State/FEMA_refusal_upsets_S.shtml . This year, residents who actually did sustain damage can't get FEMA assistance (so much for Jeb's influence with George, eh?)

 

[SOS2008]

OK, I just saw this. Figured I'd put it in my own FEMA thread.

Tax dollars at work, ladies and gents.

http://www.fema.gov/kids/femarap.htm

That's not right, indoctrinating children with propaganda, and people say the Bush administration isn't anything like Nazi Germany.

C-SPAN had a congresswoman from Florida on Wednesday with all kinds of proof that for Florida's disaster was more in line with Brownies qualifications, ie campaigning for Bush. I tried to find it on there site but it doesn't seem to be archived. I don't have time right now but if anyone can find it and post it you will See why FEMA did such a wonderful job.

One thing I remember was that they gave out twice as many checks for death benefits as people who were killed in the hurricane.

And, um, why do I suspect things are different in Jeb's state...?

 

[loseyourname]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050909/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_washington

Brown, who had come to personify a relief operation widely panned as bumbling, will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen. Allen had been in charge of relief, recovery and rescue efforts for New Orleans.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the decision to reassign Brown had been made by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and that Bush supported it.

Note: He is still the director of FEMA, but he's been ordered out of Louisiana

 

[2CentsWorth]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050909/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_washington

Note: He is still the director of FEMA, but he's been ordered out of Louisiana

Yep, I posted this in another thread:

Though as usual the Bush administration is a day late and a dollar short, for the first time an inept crony is being...asked to step down! Good job Brownie! We'll find another position for ya, don't worry.

Bush won't fire anyone, and we all know he won't because that would be admitting a mistake.

 

[oldunion]

Has anyone considered that Brown may have been a fall-guy?

 

[Skyhunter]

You're talking about Hurricane Frances where FEMA paid out $30 million to 10,000 Miami-Dade residents (the hurricane missed them by a hundred miles) and paid for funerals of folks still living.

Of course, payback is... http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/03/State/FEMA_refusal_upsets_S.shtml. This year, residents who actually did sustain damage can't get FEMA assistance (so much for Jeb's influence with George, eh?)

Thank you BobG.

Yes that was the disaster I was talking about.

 

[Skyhunter]

Has anyone considered that Brown may have been a fall-guy?

He was still Bush's choice. The apple does not fall very far from the tree.

 

[edward]

Has anyone considered that Brown may have been a fall-guy?

If he wasn't before he is now.

 

[edward]

You're talking about Hurricane Frances where FEMA paid out $30 million to 10,000 Miami-Dade residents (the hurricane missed them by a hundred miles) and paid for funerals of folks still living.

It wasn't FEMA's fault about the hurricane Frances bungle. It was the crooks who were working for them that caused the problem.

FEMA's inspectors included criminals


Agency relied on them for honest reports

By Megan O'Matz
and Sally Kestin By Megan O'Matz and Sally Kestin Staff Writers
Posted April 24 2005


Government inspectors entrusted to enter disaster victims' homes and verify damage claims include criminals with records for embezzlement, drug dealing and robbery, a South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation has found.

Federal officials have pointed to the inspectors as their primary defense against accusations of widespread fraud for their payout of more than $31 million in Hurricane Frances disaster aid in Miami-Dade -- a county spared hurricane-force winds.

 

[Manchot]

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the decision to reassign Brown had been made by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and that Bush supported it.

I thought that Bush thought that Brownie was doing a great job?

 

[edward]

I thought that Bush thought that Brownie was doing a great job?

He did until Karl Rove told him differently.

 

[Art]

If he wasn't before he is now.

That's probably why he hasn't been fired yet. They need to keep him around to play the role of sacrificial lamb when the inquiry reports. Get rid of him too soon and the public will be baying for someone else's blood.

 

[Skyhunter]

And what on Earth was Congress thinking when they approved the nomination ?!

Doesn't look like they paid much attention, only five Senators were present at his hearing.

NOMINATION OF MICHAEL D. BROWN

----------


WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002

U.S. Senate,
Committee on Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:37 a.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph I.
Lieberman, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Lieberman, Akaka, Bunning, and Bennett.

Here is the complete transcript.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_senate_hearings&docid=f:81311.wais

 

[BobG]

Doesn't look like they paid much attention, only five Senators were present at his hearing.


Here is the complete transcript.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_senate_hearings&docid=f:81311.wais

That's the hearing for deputy director. Brown didn't become director until March 2003. It's funny how there probably wasn't that much interest in who became deputy. Come time for a new director, moving the deputy up to director probably didn't stir much interest, either, since the deputy would be the likely successor.

 

[SOS2008]

That's the hearing for deputy director. Brown didn't become director until March 2003. It's funny how there probably wasn't that much interest in who became deputy. Come time for a new director, moving the deputy up to director probably didn't stir much interest, either, since the deputy would be the likely successor.

Hmm... that seems to be the method of operation with Rice, Bolton, and now Roberts--Oh wait, Roberts didn't even have the first job yet.

In reply to your post in the locked thread, I was reading that Washington Post article this morning as well, and it is a pretty good update. In regard to satellite phones, and that all but one are in use in Iraq, a question asked about personal cell phones still stands.

Ultimately what I wonder is, good Lord, how much tax payer money has been spent on the new and improved Homeland Security? I always doubted it was worth much if only because of our open borders. And now with the cost of this sad disaster, I find it even more difficult to accept the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I don't know if I can take three more years of the nonsense.

Edit: Interestingly, as stated in the book “Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President” published in 2004 by Dr. Justin Frank - “The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely limited to his or her drinking,” he says. “The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush's personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat.”

The editorial review by Publishers Weekly makes the observation: "...then Karl Rove, the Cabinet, and both houses of Congress belong in group therapy with him."

And thus goes the "blame game" ...

 

[faust9]

Reports are popping up that Brown resigned. No official link yet.

[edit] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/national/nationalspecial/12cnd-fema.html

So, Brown says the focus must be on FEMA thus he feels compelled to resign. This doesn't jive with past errors in WH judgement. The focus must be on the military so Rumsfeld must resign---nope didn't happen. The focus must be on WH integrity so Rove must resign---nope. The focus must be on factual reporting of data so Rice must resign---nope, she got herself a lateral job change.

 

[2CentsWorth]

Reports are popping up that Brown resigned. No official link yet.

[edit] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/12/national/nationalspecial/12cnd-fema.html

So, Brown says the focus must be on FEMA thus he feels compelled to resign. This doesn't jive with past errors in WH judgement. The focus must be on the military so Rumsfeld must resign---nope didn't happen. The focus must be on WH integrity so Rove must resign---nope. The focus must be on factual reporting of data so Rice must resign---nope, she got herself a lateral job change.

If Brown hasn't be asked to resign, then I guess he doesn't want to go down with the ship like a loyal captain.

 

[hypatia]

He did resign today, which to me was a wise choice.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It's a start.

 

[Astronuc]

I presume Brown gets to keep his federal pension. I just have to wonder if it is more than someone on welfare.

 

[SOS2008]

I presume Brown gets to keep his federal pension. I just have to wonder if it is more than someone on welfare.

You just reminded me of the judge who made the slum lord live in one of his slums as punishment. You don't suppose we could make Brownie do the same?

 

[Astronuc]

You just reminded me of the judge who made the slum lord live in one of his slums as punishment. You don't suppose we could make Brownie do the same?

Community service in New Orleans, on the east side of town.

 

[faust9]

Brown is still on the FEMA payroll to "download" his knowledge:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/22/national/main878583.shtml

 

[Astronuc]

Ex-FEMA Director Brown Blames Others

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role.

Brown also said that in the days before the storm, he expressed his concerns that "this is going to be a bad one" in phone conversations and e-mails with President Bush, White House chief of staff Andy Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin.

And he blamed the Department of Homeland Security — the parent agency for the Federal Emergency Management Agency — for not acquiring better equipment ahead of the storm.

His efforts to shift blame drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike.

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., told Brown: "The disconnect was, people thought there was some federal expertise out there. There wasn't. Not from you."

Brown appeared before a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," two days before the storm hit, Brown said.

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. told Brown: "I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA's failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans."

Brown is not making friends nor influencing people in Washington. Obviously he did not take the Dale Carnegie course.

 

[faust9]

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer





Brown is not making friends nor influencing people in Washington. Obviously he did not take the Dale Carnegie course.

Oddly enough Brown's reasoning is often associated with criminal behavior where the criminal is never at fault. Here too, Brown admitted making mistakes but still tried to push the blame to others. It was not his fault! You can't expect him to call the govenor of LA or the Mayor of NO and ask "Who's in charge and what's the next step?" or "How will we proceed if this is a cat-5 when it hits?" or "What happens of there is extensive flooding?" or "Do you have the manpower and equipment to meet your needs? Please elaborate."

You'd think the FEMA director would have asked these or similar questions but it's not Brown's fault.

 

[faust9]

If at first you don't succeed lie, lie again. http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/27/brown-false-smear/

 

[Gokul43201]

'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged
E-mails give insight into Brown's leadership, attitude

Thursday, November 3, 2005; Posted: 10:35 p.m. EST (03:35 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Louisiana congressman says e-mails written by the government's emergency response chief as Hurricane Katrina raged show a lack of concern for the unfolding tragedy and a failure in leadership.

More quotes from the article (these about Brown's emails) :

"Can I quit now? Can I come home?" Brown wrote to Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, the morning of the hurricane.

A few days later, Brown wrote to an acquaintance, "I'm trapped now, please rescue me."

"In the midst of the overwhelming damage caused by the hurricane and enormous problems faced by FEMA, Mr. Brown found time to exchange e-mails about superfluous topics," including "problems finding a dog-sitter," Melancon said.

Melancon said that on August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall, Brown e-mailed his press secretary, Sharon Worthy, about his attire, asking: "Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?"

A few days later, Worthy advised Brown: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working."

On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, "You look fabulous," and Brown replied, "I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me?"

An hour later, Brown added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god," according to the congressman.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/brown.fema.emails/index.htmlAn anlysis of Brown's emails : http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/images/11/03/brown.emails.analysis.pdf

 

[Ivan Seeking]

"Trust Bush, he puts quality people in charge", they said.

Even in in the most forgiving light, is it any surprise that we invaded a country and killed tens of thousands of people by mistake?

 

[rachmaninoff]

Why isn't this a felony?