FEMA head Brown's background uncovers trail of patronage, incompetence, and greed

This is an interesting item from all the way back in January of this year.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla) has urged President Bush to fire Michael Brown as undersecretary of the Homeland Security Department in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Wexler cited reports in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that FEMA under Brown's management inappropriately gave away $30 million in disaster relief funds to people in the Miami, Florida, area even though they were not affected by Hurricane Frances, which made landfall more than 100 miles away.

In keeping with Bush's habit of rewarding political cronies with positions for which they're not remotely qualified, it turns out that Bush's FEMA head, Michael Brown, has an interesting history, including an 11 year stint as "the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association" before being "asked to leave" the organization.

He has no particular qualifications for being the top person in charge of national emergecy response, other than being the college roommate of Joe Albaugh, who happened to be the former FEMA chief and who got the gig by being Bush's close political operative. (he's the guy with the weird flat-top buzz cut, you may remember him.)

Joshua Micah Marshall has more of the story. Albaugh left government to act as a rain-maker and influence peddler setting up an outfit which connected busineses with government contracts in Iraq. As Marshall notes,

But see where we're going here. We have a thoroughly politicized FEMA, encased within an administration that ran the Iraqi reconstruction in such a way that they managed to give graft and cronyism a bad name. $10.5 billion is just a small down payment on the money that's going to go into draining and rebuilding New Orleans, constructing a much more durable and comprehensive system of pumps and levees around the city, patching up the coastlines of Mississippi and Alabama. And did we mention the important Senate race next year in Florida? And then there's the Port of New Orleans. And the oil facilities in the Gulf.
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The White House is already laying the groundwork for centralizing all authority over contracting within the executive branch, which for all intents and purposes means the White House. No oversight. No transparency. Halliburton ready at the trough.

Marshall, it turns out, was precient. Albaugh, one of Bush's closest political hitmen, is indeed rushing to cash in on the death and destruction in the aftermath of Katrina.

Even old Haley Barbour, former RNC chair, and current governor of Mississippi, had his fingers in the pie. This is the Republican idea of public service. Milk it for all the bucks you can.

But what happens if you fire Brown? This article shows us that the #2 and #3 at the agency are even worse.

The Chief of Staff is a guy named Patrick Rhode. He planned events for President Bush’s campaign. Rhode has no emergency management experience whatsoever. From Rhode’s official bio:

His first position with the Bush Administration was as special assistant to the President and deputy director of National Advance Operations, a position he assumed in January 2001. Previously, Mr. Rhode served as deputy director of National Advance Operations for the George W. Bush Presidential Campaign, in Austin, Texas.

The Deputy Chief of Staff is Scott Morris. He was a press flak for Bush’s presidential campaign. Previously, he worked for the company that produced Bush’s campaign commercials. He also has no emergency management experience. From Morris’s official bio:

Mr. Morris was also the marketing director for the world’s leading provider of e-business applications software in California, and worked for Maverick Media in Austin, Texas as a media strategist for the George W. Bush for President primary campaign and the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign.

These guys make Brown look qualified. And that’s no small feat.