FEMA chief in unfamiliar territory

 

By MATT STEARNS and SETH BORENSTEIN

 

The Star?s Washington correspondent

 

 

WASHINGTON ? From failed Republican congressional candidate to ousted ?czar? of an Arabian horse association, there was little in Michael Brown?s background to prepare him for Hurricane Katrina.

 

But as the leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brown now faces furious criticism of the federal response to the disaster that decimated New Orleans and parts of the Gulf Coast.

 

He provoked some of it when he conceded that agency didn?t know that thousands of refugees were trapped at New Orleans? convention center without food or water until officials heard it on the news.

 

?He?s done a hell of a job, because I?m not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm,? said Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade emergency management chief. ?The world that this man operated in and the focus of this work does not in any way translate to this. He does not have the experience.?

 

Brown ran for Congress in 1988 and won 27 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Glenn English.

 

He spent the 1990s as judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. His job was to ensure that horse-show judges followed the rules.

 

Brown?s ticket to FEMA was Joe Allbaugh, President Bush?s 2000 campaign manager and a longtime friend of Brown?s in Oklahoma.

 

Brown told several association officials that if Bush were elected, he would be in line for a good job. When Allbaugh, who managed Bush?s campaign, took over FEMA in 2001, he took Brown with him as general counsel.

 

He was known as ?the czar? of the Arabian horse association for the breadth of his power and the enthusiasm with which he wielded it, said Mary Anne Grimmell, a former association president.

 

The suspensions Brown delivered resulted in several lawsuits.

 

Although the association won the suits, they were expensive to defend, and Brown became a controversial figure.

 

?It was positive controversy,? Connelly said. ?It got word out that we were serious about enforcing our rules.?

 

But he said that Brown could be ?abrasive.? Others were less charitable.

 

?He just wouldn?t follow instruction,? said Bill Pennington, another former association president. ?Mike was bullheaded, and he was going to do it his way ? period.?

 

 

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Hadn't seen this posted yet. Found this story pretty funny (and pretty scary). Great quote by the former Miami Dade employee.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/n...on/12556548.htm

So I'm wondering if this guy had any experience at disaster management & recovery at all?

So I'm wondering if this guy had any experience at disaster management & recovery at all?

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if making sure horse competitions arent rigged is considered disaster management than yeah.

Cape could run FEMA way better than this dewd..... :plain