When Patronage Kills

Michael Brown's qualifications are hightlighted in this Miami Herald piece which should be titled

When Political Patronage Kills

(If you don't have an account at miami.com, click on the bugmenot.com link to the right. (second down) It's remarkably useful if you just want to read one article on a site.)

(see the comments at the end for another rant at the massive ineptitude of Brown/Fema's response.)

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

But as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brown now faces furious criticism of the federal response to the disaster that wiped out New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. He provoked some of it himself when he conceded that FEMA didn't know that thousands of evacuees were trapped at New Orleans' convention center without food or water.

''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 who oversaw emergency response during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. ``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.'' (Quite obvious what the Miami Herald thinks of Brown's performance - Mike)

Brown ran for Congress in 1988 and won 27 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Glenn English, and 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 and to investigate allegations against those suspected of cheating. .......

Brown's ticket to FEMA was Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's 2000 campaign manager and an old friend of Brown's in Oklahoma.

Brown told several association officials that if Bush were elected, he'd 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.

Brown practiced law in Enid, Okla., a city of about 45,000, during the 1980s and was counsel to a group of businesses run by a well-known Enid family. Before that, he worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., and was an aide in the state Legislature. .......

''He just wouldn't follow instruction,'' said Bill Pennington, another former (Arabian Horse)association president. ``Mike was bullheaded, and he was gonna do it his way. Period.''

At FEMA, Brown rose from general counsel to deputy director within a year. Bush named him to succeed Allbaugh in February 2003. With FEMA now part of the Department of Homeland Security, Brown's title is undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response.

Brown's old friend Andrew Lester, an Oklahoma lawyer, said the progression from horse shows to hurricanes was natural.

''A lot of what he had to do was stand in the breach in difficult, controversial situations,'' Lester said. ``Which I think would well prepare him for his work at FEMA.'' .....

In Mobile, Ala., on Friday, Bush said the response to Katrina was unsatisfactory. But he had nothing but praise for FEMA's director.

''Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,'' the president said.

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

And that was on Friday, before any help had come to the convention center, before the national guard had started "reclaiming" New Orleans, after only 1,200 people had been evacuated from the Superdome.

Of course, that was four days after the hurricane had hit, and three and a half days after the levee broke. So in the three and a half days when CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, AP, AFP, Reuters, NYTimes, WaPo, BBC, ITV, SKYnews, German and French TV, and innumerable other print reporters, were able to enter and travel around New Orleans in SUV's and pickups, there was no aid or government presence inside New Orleans because the water was too high.

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