DISMISSED FEMA HEAD SHIFTS BLAME
‘ Dysfunctional’ Louisiana at fault, Brown tells inquiry
WASHINGTON •
The former head of the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency came out swinging yesterday, telling a Congressional inquiry his biggest mistake was not realizing how “dysfunctional” Lousiana was and lamenting his inability to get the state’s Governor and the New Orleans Mayor to stop fighting one another.
“I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor [Kathleen] Blanco and Mayor [Ray] Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together,” Michael Brown told a House of Representatives panel looking into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “I just couldn’t pull that off.”
The violent storm that swept ashore on Aug. 29 devastated parts of the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle and swamped New Orleans. At least 1,000 residents were killed.
For two days after the levees broke around New Orleans, observers were stunned by the scenes of thousands of people waiting desperately for food and water at the few gathering places that remained above the water.
Mr. Brown has been the lightning rod for media and political allegations that the federal government, including U.S. President George W. Bush, reacted slowly.
In his evidence yesterday, Mr. Brown refused to concede FEMA made serious mistakes and rejected reports he was unqualified for his job. Instead, he complained of dwindling resources and a “brain drain” at the agency.
He also attempted to shift the blame for the fiasco, saying state and local officials had failed to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans sufficiently early.
“ It’s my belief that FEMA did a good job in the Gulf states,” Mr. Brown said. “I have overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I am doing. And I think I do a pretty darn good job of it.”
Before the criticism forced Mr. Brown to quit, Mr. Bush publicly praised him, saying, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
But public perception that the federal government responded poorly to the disaster has since damaged the President’s popularity figures.
Democrats and many commentators have attacked Mr. Brown as an unqualified political nominee and Bush crony whose main experience was working with a horse breeders’ association.
The Democrats are formally boycotting the Republican-led committee but some Louisiana Democrats, who are sitting informally on the panel, roundly condemned Mr. Brown’s position.
“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,” Representative William Jefferson said. He questioned Mr. Brown’s characterization of events, noting that well before the storm FEMA officials knew state and local officials would be quickly overwhelmed by Katrina.
Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat, also criticized Mr. Brown’s performance as FEMA head, saying he gave it an “ F- minus.”
“Maybe the President made a very good move when he asked you to leave your job,” he added.
Responding to the accusations of the FEMA head, Mr. Nagin said, “Our record is clear and his record is clear and a spin is just not going to work. The American people are just too smart for that,” he told a radio station in New Orleans.
Ms. Blanco’s office referred reporters to a statement she made on Sept. 15, which said, “ The simple fact is that we needed something as simple and basic as buses delivered in a timely fashion from FEMA in order to save lives. They didn’t do that.”