The Political Chase

Brownie’s Revenge

Michael "Brownie" Brown is ready to spill the beans about the government’s handling Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. CNN reports that Brown will provide Congress his correspondence with President Bush and others during the hurricane, unless the White House orders him to no disclose the information and agree to pay all legal fees associated with compliance to White House directives.

Technorati Tags : Michael+Brown, Brownie, George+Bush, Katrina, politics

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Louisiana Governor’s Report to Congress

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) issued her response to Congress for its investigation into the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. The report contains more than 100,000 pages of records not previously released.

Obviously, I have not read the 100,000 pages, but I have read the executive summary/cover letter to the report. Combining the contents of the summary with the report from The Washington Post, it is easy to conclude that the Bush administration attempted to place on state and local authorities was not warranted. Coinciding with what the news media portrayed at the time of the situation, President Bush appears to have given little attention to the matter until Friday, after the storm made land fall before dawn on Monday. Once the President focused on the situation, it appears he was huddled with the White House staff reviewing legal matters until just before delivering his regularly scheduled remarks on Saturday morning via radio.

Just before the President delivers his Radio Address on Saturday morning, Governor Blanco speaks to Andrew Card who tells her that she will be pleased with the President’s announcement. The Governor listens intently as the President speaks, and is thankful that he has authorized federal troops to work with the National Guard.

The additional review of legal matters on Friday and Saturday is in stark contrast to Governor Blanco’s report; “who manages what,” was decided in prior conversations between the Governor and the administration. The agreement was the Governor, justifiably, would have authority over the National Guard and federal troops would remain under the authority of the federal government. Each group would be responsible for separate and distinct activities, which supported the agreement. Furthermore, according to Blanco, the federal government had not responded and she was already managing thousands of National Guard troops and did not want to layer on additional confusion by changing the structure currently in place.

One item is quite obvious in the summary report — the absence of communications with then FEMA Director, Michael Brown. Brown and Blanco met just prior to Katrina’s arrival and is not mentioned in her report thereafter. The only possible exception to that are the following passages. If you will remember, Michael Brown testified before Congress, that the State and local officials were out of control.

Much has been said and written about the Governor’s private meeting with the President, and erroneous reports have been circulated that she denied federal troops or delayed help for 24-hours. The facts are clear and evidence confirms that the Governor requests early and often the need for additional military presence, including a federal military presence and assets. At no time does anyone from the federal government tell her that federal troops are withheld because the existing structure was inadequate. In fact, the new proposal is first presented to her aboard Air Force One on Friday, four days after the storm struck on Monday, and the President never suggests that federal troops were reliant on this new structure nor did he convey that the joint command structure is insufficient. She believes that the President is sincere in his pledge to help Louisiana. She is clear about needing that help, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Technorati Tags : Katrina, Politics

Time Person of the Year

Okay, dispense with the committee; they’re no longer needed.  Michael Brown has to be chosen for Time’s Person of the Year. If Brown has the chutzpah to start a consultancy  in disaster preparedness, he deserves to win.

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Michael Brown Emails During Katrina

Rep. Charlie Melancon (3rd District - LA) made emails available today to/from Michael Brown during Hurricane Katrina.

CNN’s description:

As Hurricane Katrina ripped into the Gulf Coast, the government’s emergency management chief was making flippant remarks about his responsibilities, e-mails show. “Can I quit now? Can I come home?” former Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown wrote on the morning of the hurricane to the agency’s deputy director of public affairs.

The emails have been added to the document library. Click here to download. Note: the emails are not in chronological order.

We should be concerned about Brownie

Brownie must be doing a heck of a job. Secretary Chertoff extended Michael Brown’s contract for another month. Yesterday I asked if Brownie was still around after learning about his resignation plans, pre-Katrina.

Odd…he planned to resign just prior to Katrina, but is still here today and continues to renew his month-to-month (so we’re told) contract. Maybe the job market outlook wasn’t as bright after Katrina???

The real question is why is he still employed by the government rather than is he still here.

The level of Brown’s competence is now just a matter of record. We know how well he served the administration and the people of the United States.

Brown is a lawyer, by academic training, but he ran pony shows for several years prior to joining the Bush brigade. Why would a lawyer not pursue a more personally challenging and financially rewarding path, unless he wasn’t up to it. He was fired from running the pony shows — that’s how he got to FEMA (other than cronyism).

What the heck is the man doing that is so important and productive? I think that precise question needs to be asked. What is Brown touching that will cause problems in the future?

Brown Planned to Resign Before Katrina

Michael Brown had planned to submit his resignation days before Katrina and apparently was too incompetent to even accomplish that as planned.

In an Aug. 31 e-mail to FEMA aide James Tillie, Brown wrote, “I should have done my announcement a week early.” That evening, Craig wrote to Brown: “We need to get this done right or neither of us are leaving on great terms . . . and we were days away.”

So, is Brownie still on the payroll, extending his contract, or has someone finally given him the swift boot out the door?

Inadequate Checks and Balances

Tomorrow’s Washington Post reveals that the burden of responsibility for FEMA’s poor performance are broader than just the White House and Michael Brown. The Post portrays Congress and particularly Congressional committees as an integral part of the problem.

• Poor oversight from Senate and House committees in general, especially the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
• Reps. Katherine Harris (R-FL), Mark Foley (R-FL) and other members of the Florida delegation previously made formal complaints about FEMA’s performance which largely were put aside.
• Overall failure of Congress to perform its obligation to checks and balances in the government. Congress is reticent to speak out against the Executive Branch for purely partisan reasons.

Michael Brown was previously called to testify on the status of FEMA. Brown’s testimony:

He conceded problems in “very marginal cases” and called [Richard L. Skinner, acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security] “just wrong” about other findings.

That is in stark contrast to the emaciated FEMA Brown described in his recent testimony. Is someone looking into perjury?

Joe Allbough on Michael Brown

Josh Marshall has a post on why  Joe Allbaugh hired Michael Brown.

A teaser from Josh’s post:

"A strong ethics attorney who’d just gotten canned from his last job because of ethical improprieties. "

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Trainees Lead FEMA

The Washington Post reports that five of eight FEMA leaders are rookies.

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Performance Reviews for Bush Employees?

In the private sector, most employees are given performance reviews at least on an annual basis. Does President Bush have a policy that all Bush administration employees receive a periodic performance review? It would have been a great follow up when David Gregory (NBC News) and Terry Moran (ABC News) drilled Scott McLellan about Michael Brown’s performance.

Brown’s performance review should include when he got caught giving away $30 million inappropriately to Florida residents.

NYT Report on FEMA Director

This is rather old news now, but if you haven’t heard, the New York Times has a somewhat in-depth article on Michael Brown, Director of FEMA.  In summary, Brown was fired from his last private sector job managing a horse association; subsequent roles have been political appointments because he was a crony of George Bush.

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Trent Lott Pleased with Government Response - Blames Media

In an interview moments ago with CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, US Senator Trent Lott, the former Republican Majority Leader, made terse statements that he was pleased with the federal government’s response to Katrina.

Cooper told Sen. Lott that people in Waverling, Mississippi and elsewhere wanted to know "What was taking so long for the government to respond?"  Cooper added, "They want to know why no one is here."

Lott responded, "That’s just not true. They are not asking that. It’s the media. [The government] is there."  Reporter Cooper responded to the Senator, "I have [people] standing right here that have asked me to ask you that question Senator."

Lott reponded, "This is a disasterous situation. People just have to understand.  I have to deal with my own personal situations here."