Saturday, May 20, 2006

Brownie did a heckuva job in 2004, too

Speaking of shills and scam artists... check this out (via FL Sun- Sentinel): "Newly released 29 pgs of e-mails of former FEMA Dir Mike Brown show top fedrl officials scrambling to explain millions in disaster aid going to Miami-Dade County residents for a '04 hurricane that missed the county and coaching Brown "not to appear defensive" in responding to "ridiculous questions" from the media. "We need you calm cool and collected," former FEMA chf of staff Pat Rhode wrote in '04 after the Sun- Sentinel reported that FEMA had awarded more than $21 million in Miami-Dade for Hurricane Frances, the storm that struck 100 miles away. "We need our best spokesperson to combat these issues in a diplomatic way to wave the flag for the admin." After the 1st story was published, top FEMA officials debated how to explain why the agency had awarded more money in Miami-Dade, which experienced no hurricane conditions, than in counties that received a direct hit. Here's 1 email that went to 7 FEMA officials: "Should we say the density in population in Miami-Dade versus the other affected counties (just sheer numbers) to somewhat explain the disparity in funding? However, FYI -- the reporter and those she contacted have driven around looking for physical damages to justify the funding and that will not be seen because those type of damages just did not occur in Miami-Dade." The Sun-Sentinel's investigation continued for 15 mos, eventually exposing more than $500 million in disaster assistance nationwide to areas w/ little or no damage. What does Brownie have to say?: "I still believe that in those N. portions of Miami-Dade there was some street flooding, there was some legitimate claims paid out. Should we have declared the entire county a disaster area? Probably not. But that's what we're stuck with." Brownie's mighty cavalier with other people's taxpaying money, no?
Posted by Tina :: 12:21 AM :: 2 Comments:

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