Head of FEMA was fired from his last job (organizing horse shows)

[Lemur]

A little digging has turned up some amazing dirt. The current head of FEMA, the astonishing Michael Brown, was fired from his previous job organizing horse shows. I'm not making this up; I only wish I were.

From the article:

The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows.

And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.

The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA.

The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster.

And then there's this:

Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures.

"He was asked to resign,'' Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night.

Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign.

The implication would seem to be that a man who is incompetent to arrange horse shows will prove himself worthy in the most important disaster-response agency in the United States. Very interesting. Will he be awarded the Medal of Freedom? Or will our President finally nerve himself to get rid of an incompetent?

Care to place any bets?

[Strike For The South]

I think im gonna cry

[Red Harvest]

OH MY GOD!!!

Who in the hell ever thought someone like this should run FEMA? Surely this can't be true, I'm really wondering if this could be accurate because it seems incomprehensible. I'm so mad I can't even begin to express my outrage. Assuming this turns out to be true, the president and his administration must answer for this stupidity. I've had it with the excuses.

[Aenlic]

It's accurate. Brown is an estate lawyer, and a Republican activist and fund raiser. His appointment was purely a political payback, after his predecessor quit to go reap the war profits of the lucrative contract business in Iraq.

This isn't the first time he's been under fire for mismanaging hurricane relief. Look back for articles in Sun-Sentinel in newspaper in Florida from back in January of this year, when Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida urged Bush to fire Brown for nearly $30 million in bogus payments to people in Miami for "damage" from hurricane Francis even though Miami was 100 miles away from Francis. FEMA finally admitted to only $12 million in overpayments, but refused to acknowledge that Miami was not a disaster area from Francis, claiming that the NOAA weather maps as proof. The NOAA then refuted the weather maps that FEMA claimed to have obtained from them.

[BDC]

Someone high up should be fired for this. It's one thing to let your friends make some money on the side, another to let them be in charge of the agency designed to protect millions of people.

[Fabolous]

These are the stories that make you love politics. Aren't they?

[sharrukin]

Apparently FEMA has been a favoured dumping ground for political appointees for some time. It seems to cut across political lines as both parties engage in it.

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0197f.asp

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/fea....franklin.html

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/l...rts/FEMA4.html

[Strike For The South]

someone needs to get hit

[Red Harvest]

Someone high up should be fired for this. It's one thing to let your friends make some money on the side, another to let them be in charge of the agency designed to protect millions of people.

Yeah...Dubya. That's who would have selected him. This isn't some unimportant little agency, especially after 9/11. There is simply no excuse for a mistake of this magnitude. No more excuses for this incompetence.

Why aren't the major news agencies reporting this yet? Why hasn't Fox broken the story...oh, I forgot, they are in "circle the wagons" mode. Watched the "Stop the Blame Game" commentary this morning on Fox. They are still trying to blame this on the city. We still have tens of thousands of people stranded in the city and still many needing aid or outright rescue, and Fox still doesn't get it. "America's Challenge" they label it. I'm tired of their cutesy crap, their ALL SPIN ZONE. I want heads!

When we get these folks evacuated, fed, rehydrated, and in shelter, heads need to start rolling, starting at the top. These agencies need to be rebuilt, without amateurs and political appointees. This job needs to be done right. This is the biggest fiasco I've ever witnessed by the Federal govt.

[Redleg]

Apparently FEMA has been a favoured dumping ground for political appointees for some time. It seems to cut across political lines as both parties engage in it.

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0197f.asp

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/fea....franklin.html

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/l...rts/FEMA4.html

Yes indeed - FEMA has been one of the most abused government agencies with political appoints for rewards. Hopefully one of the things coming out of this diaster is that FEMA gets a shake up and fixed. The Homeland Security gets a major slap in the head and a bunch of people fired for not doing thier jobs in providing adequate and timely response at the National Level.

And this knuckle head not only needs to be fired - he needs to be bumped down to simple clean-up worker and sent to New Orleans to help clean up.

[sharrukin]

And this knuckle head not only needs to be fired - he needs to be bumped down to simple clean-up worker and sent to New Orleans to help clean up.

This may sound harsh but I would put him on with the crews removing bodies so he gets some idea what his bungling has cost.

[Red Harvest]

This may sound harsh but I would put him on with the crews removing bodies so he gets some idea what his bungling has cost.

Agreed.

Why would someone accept that sort of job without the qualifications to fulfill it?

[Lemur]

It appears that anyone who bet on a medal rather than a firing will win the prize. Our president is giving the failed horse-show organizer his full support:

Federal officials yesterday defended the government's actions, and Bush, Barbour and Alabama Governor Bob Riley today in turn singled out FEMA director Mike Brown for praise.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,'' Bush said.

[PanzerJaeger]

Yeah...Dubya. That's who would have selected him. This isn't some unimportant little agency, especially after 9/11. There is simply no excuse for a mistake of this magnitude. No more excuses for this incompetence.

The article does not back up your biased assertion. Sorry.

Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign.

Who would be better qualified to pick the next head of FEMA but the previous head. Thats usually how these things work, the people who run the agencies recommend replacements.

But dont let that stop you from demanding Bush's head, nothing else ever has.

[Red Harvest]

It appears that anyone who bet on a medal rather than a firing will win the prize. Our president is giving the failed horse-show organizer his full support:

Federal officials yesterday defended the government's actions, and Bush, Barbour and Alabama Governor Bob Riley today in turn singled out FEMA director Mike Brown for praise.

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,'' Bush said.

Yep, this has been a GOP self love fest. Blast the democratic officials, praise the GOP. DISGUSTING!!!

And of course, let's not mention that many Mississippians are also without help yet, while we are all patting ourselves on the back with a veritable "Mission Accomplished" sign for Mississippi. FEMA is setting up stations, but people can't reach them because their transport is gone. They are relying on *individuals* to ferry them supplies.

[Red Harvest]

The article does not back up your biased assertion. Sorry.

Who would be better qualified to pick the next head of FEMA but the previous head.

My 3 year old perhaps? He could certainly do a better job.

Thats usually how these things work, the people who run the agencies recommend replacements.

Seems to me that the Prez has to sign off on this. I don't think there is any chance that a Democratic fundraiser would have been allowed to stand.

Are you saying Dubya is unable to properly screen candidates for these high posts? I'm sure there was no need for this in light of 9/11 and our push for improved security and threat response.

But dont let that stop you from demanding Bush's head, nothing else ever has.

I have always loathed incompetence. Worst president in recent memory = worst disaster response ever. No surprise there.

[Strike For The South]

The article does not back up your biased assertion. Sorry.



Who would be better qualified to pick the next head of FEMA but the previous head. Thats usually how these things work, the people who run the agencies recommend replacements.

But dont let that stop you from demanding Bush's head, nothing else ever has.

PJ Bush has done good things but the way this has been handled is a disgrace people seemed more concerned with politcis back scraching and trying to pass the buck. people are still stranded infants, the elderly the mentally disabled and all Bush seems to care about is making sure his **** doesn't get his feelings hurt saddest thing I've ever seen this man do

[ichi]

We tend to think that hard work and intelligence, responsibility and ethics will allow people to rise through the system to a position of authority.

But under the Bush admin the idea of 'meritocracy', where individuals work their way to the top, is totally avoided. See, Bush was a C student who succeeded in life through connections, never by his own hard work. And he and most of the top leadership in the Republican party value loyalty over everything.

So you get guys like this running a lot of the important parts of government.

The sad thing is, there was a guy, who worked hard and long, who would have done a good job at FEMA, who was passed over so some party loyalist could get his ol buddy a job.

ichi

[Lemur]

Apparently FEMA has been a favoured dumping ground for political appointees for some time. It seems to cut across political lines as both parties engage in it.

Far be it from this lemur to deny that both parties have dumped their cronies in FEMA, but there was a marked and deliberate difference in how FEMA was organized and directed between the nineties and the 00's. A little background on FEMA's evolution:

FEMA was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 after criticism of the government's fragmented response to a series of disasters, including Hurricane Camille in 1969 and California earthquakes in 1971.

Hurricane Andrew, which struck South Florida in 1992, demonstrated that the federal government still had not sufficiently figured out how to respond smoothly, as thousands were initially left without shelter or water. The agency had a reputation for political patronage and pork barrel spending.

It was with the appointment in 1993 of James Lee Witt, from Arkansas, that the agency began to earn respect.

Mr. Clinton made FEMA a cabinet-level agency.

"Witt shaped it into an organization that was not only to respond to disaster but attempt to mitigate disaster by taking actions before they occurred," said Michael Greenberger, a domestic security expert at the University of Maryland and a former Justice Department official.

After severe flooding in the Midwest in 1993, FEMA under Mr. Witt, for example, bought more than 10,000 properties adjacent to rivers and relocated residents and businesses. In Grafton, Ill., where 403 residents and businesses applied for disaster aid after the 1993 flood, only 11 applied when the river overflowed again in 1995, FEMA said at the time.

The approach to disaster management changed with the arrival of President Bush, experts in emergency management say. Mr. Bush appointed Mr. Allbaugh, who was Mr. Bush's chief of staff when he was governor of Texas.

Testifying before Congress in 2001, Mr. Allbaugh said he was concerned that federal disaster assistance had become "an oversized entitlement program" and made it clear that the new administration wanted to curtail FEMA's mission.

His goal, he said, was to "restore the predominant role of state and local response to most disasters."

While Mr. Allbaugh was FEMA director, the Bush administration, with the backing of Congress, reversed the emphasis on preventing flooding, cutting the formula for such federal grants by half.

"It just does not make good sense," said Larry A. Larson, director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

[Aenlic]

From the FEMA website (http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm):

Michael D. Brown was nominated by President George W. Bush as the first Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response in the newly created Department of Homeland Security in January 2003. As the head of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Under Secretary Brown leads federal disaster response and recovery operations and coordinates disaster activities with more than two dozen federal agencies and departments and the American Red Cross. He also oversees the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration, and initiates proactive mitigation activities.

[sarcasm on]Yep. Not Bush's problem at all. He didn't appoint this goober to be head of FEMA, did he? Despite the evidence. Nope. Nothing to see here. Move along. [/sarcasm off]

The head of FEMA isn't picked by the previous head, who was Joe Allbaugh. Allbaugh brought this little wonderboy along when Bush appointed him. Brown was Allbaugh's roommate in college. Old good buddies (remember the phrase? ). Did Allbaugh appoint Brown to be his successor? No. He was put into FEMA by Allbaugh; but BUSH appointed Brown to head FEMA. No one else.

By the way, what was Joe Allbaugh's qualification to be head of FEMA? He was Bush's chief of staf as governor of Taxes, then he was National Campaign Manager for Bush-Cheney 2000. Allbaugh had no previous experience in disaster relief either. Purely political appointment. His education? Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (snicker) from Oklahoma State. No wonder he didn't know any better when he brought his college buddy along for the ride. When Allbaugh left to go make some tidy little war profits running a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq, Brown was then appointed to head FEMA by Bush. Any other questions?

[PanzerJaeger]

Sigh.. If Bush hadnt accepted the man the previous head of FEMA recomended - the usual crowd would be screaming about that.

If people actually took more time to look at how a response to a hurricane is usually set up, the scale of the disaster, and what has actually been done, they wouldnt be so righteously indignant.

But of course many feel their anger at the situation must be quantified in the form of someone... anyone. Thats the culture in America, someone is always to blame! And to many, Bush is always at fault for everything, much like the Jews are always at fault in other circles.

I have yet to see anyone actually state what the federal government has done wrong in this. It seems they attempted to respect the local and state governments, as would be expected, and then took over when they failed. That is the what the role of the federal government should be.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

But under the Bush admin the idea of 'meritocracy', where individuals work their way to the top, is totally avoided.

Oh please. Would you like to compare Bush's cabinet to Clintons? Talk about a bunch of losers. Bush is no different in this regard than most presidents.

[Husar]

I have yet to see anyone actually state what the federal government has done wrong in this. It seems they attempted to respect the local and state governments, as would be expected, and then took over when they failed. That is the what the role of the federal government should be.

Yes, the best thing they could ever do was to respect the failing attempts of the state governments until it was completely clear that they couldn´t help.

It was just as good as the decision to take away the money that was meant to reinforce the dams in New Orleans and use it for more useful tasks like wars.......

I find it funny in some way to hear that Bush invaded Iraq to make the USA more secure while taking away money for dams. Now what was the bigger threat? the non-existant WMDs in Iraq or the non-existant dams in NO?
I know that dams wouldn´t have saved everybody and every town, but they would at least have kept the water out of NO.

[Lemur]

More fun with Michael Brown:

FEMA chief Brown: "We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face." [Sept. 1, 2005]

President George Bush: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." [Sept. 2, 2005]

[Spetulhu]

This is how political parties work in just about every country that has them. The guy who patted you on the back gets a reward. Often it's just a seat on the board of some big company where you can lift hefty pay for voting exactly like the director. You don't do any harm there, but you are a parasite all the same.

[Lemur]

Also, as long as we're discussing whether blame is being pointed in the right direction, here's some info from the Homeland Security web site:

In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.

If you would like to see how effectively Mr. Brown's agency is discharging its duties, please note that the Red Cross was forbidden to bring aid to the people in NOLA. From the Red Cross:

Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

This lemur dares anyone in their right minds to defend the decision to prevent the Red Cross from entering NOLA. Homeland Security and FEMA are in dereliction of duty. And don't even get me started on the no-bid decision to hand over the reconstruction of New Orleans to Halliburton ...

[Red Harvest]

Sigh.. If Bush hadnt accepted the man the previous head of FEMA recomended - the usual crowd would be screaming about that.

If people actually took more time to look at how a response to a hurricane is usually set up, the scale of the disaster, and what has actually been done, they wouldnt be so righteously indignant.

But of course many feel their anger at the situation must be quantified in the form of someone... anyone. Thats the culture in America, someone is always to blame! And to many, Bush is always at fault for everything, much like the Jews are always at fault in other circles.

I have yet to see anyone actually state what the federal government has done wrong in this. It seems they attempted to respect the local and state governments, as would be expected, and then took over when they failed. That is the what the role of the federal government should be.

No, PJ, the people that didn't realize the scale are in the Administration. They are the very people now being lambasted for their inept, insufficient, and incompetent response, by both sides of the isle. The people being blamed are those very ones who are responsible for handling this disaster. It is their job, and they failed miserably. Who do you want to blame, Osama, WMD's, Saddam? There are folks who have these positions, yet clearly cannot fulfill the requirements of them. Let 'em go pick up corpses.

The real disaster here is the class A cluster**** that has been the relief response. Am I going to give Louisiana officials a pass, heck no! That does not in any way excuse the power vacuum at the Federal level. Waiting for the locals to be swamped shows no common sense. That might be the sort of leadership you've come to expect, but I won't stand for it. I don't care if it's Bush, Clinton, Snoop Doggy Dog, or Mickey Mouse in the White House, this is not acceptable. I want heads on pikes. I want examples made and most importantly: I don't ever want to see a Federal response to a major disaster this badly mishandled again, EVER. Cover this up like previous leadership failures of this Administration, and you will see the same thing happen again.

There are multitudes of reports both on TV and on the web showing what was wrong. They are blaming slow Federal response as well. If you can't see it or hear it, then it is because you aren't listening. The people on the ground in New Orleans (victims, officials, doctors, nurses, police, reporters, etc.) have ALL been asking where the help is. For days the only real aid was coming from the Coast Guard.

[Red Harvest]

More fun with Michael Brown:

FEMA chief Brown: "We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that." [Sept. 1, 2005]

Brown: "I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face." [Sept. 1, 2005]

President George Bush: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." [Sept. 2, 2005]

I've heard all those too. You gotta wonder what sort of hallucinogens the clown is on.

[Lemur]

I've heard all those too. You gotta wonder what sort of hallucinogens the clown is on.

Horse tranquilizers would be my guess, based on his prior experience.

[Lemur]

Oh please. Would you like to compare Bush's cabinet to Clintons? Talk about a bunch of losers. Bush is no different in this regard than most presidents.

Gawain, I think all of us would like to hear how James Lee Witt (Clinton's head of FEMA) was a "loser." Please elaborate.

BTW, has the defense of this admin.'s handling of the NOLA disaster really descended to "everybody hires incompetents, so what's the big deal"?