[extropy-chat] Halliburton gets Katrina Contract

[Olga Bourlin]

From: "Robert Lindauer" <robgobblin at aol.com>
>
> Thank God there are people available to take advantage of the misfortunes 
> of others effectively and expensively.
>
> PS - there was a time, pre FEMA, when disaster relief was performed in 
> the US usually by a combination of the national guard and red cross, both 
> of which were NON PROFIT organizations very effective at doing  what they 
> do.

Ah, yes ... I remember it well.

But, hey, it's not every day that we get such an experienced ... er, ousted 
... er, "czar" of sorts ... of, er ... Arabian horses handling things there 
at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, no sir.:

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/politics/12554958.htm

      Posted on Sat, Sep. 03, 2005

      Head of FEMA has an unlikely background

      BY MATT STEARNS AND SETH BORENSTEIN
      Knight Ridder Newspapers

      WASHINGTON - (KRT) - 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 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 and to 
investigate allegations against those suspected of cheating.

      "I wouldn't have regarded his position in the horse industry as a 
platform to where he is now," said Tom Connelly, a former association 
president.

      Brown's ticket to FEMA was Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's 2000 
campaign manager and an old friend of Brown's in Oklahoma. When Bush ran for 
president in 2000, Brown was ending a rocky tenure at the horse association.

      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.

      "He's known Joe Allbaugh for quite some time," said Andrew Lester, an 
Oklahoma lawyer who's been a friend of Brown's for more than 20 years. "I 
think they know each other from school days. I think they did some debate 
type of things against each other, and worked on some Republican politics 
together."

      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.

      From 1991 until 2000, Brown earned about $100,000 a year as the chief 
rules enforcer of the Arabian horse association.

      He was known as "The Czar" 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 to those suspected of cheating 
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 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 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 Lester 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."

      Despite the withering criticism and a promised congressional 
investigation of FEMA's performance, Brown still has the support of his most 
important constituent.

      In Mobile, Ala., on Friday, Bush said the response to Katrina was 
unsatisfactory. But he had nothing but praise for his FEMA director. 
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," the president said.

      ---

      (Stearns reports from Washington for The Kansas City Star.)

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