The Louisiana Reaction Continued

What was Blanco doing, when was she doing it, and why were there delays.

Let's contrast that with the reaction to the impending storm in neighboring Mississippi and Alabama. Mississippi and Alabama were mentioned in the Presidential directives I'd mentioned in yesterday's posting. The Alabama directive is from August 28, and specifically names Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Mobile, Sumter, and Washington counties for relief before the storm hit. The Mississippi directive, also from August 28, specifically names Covington, Forrest, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Marion, Pearl River, and Stone counties for relief.

CNN is finally reporting that the American Red Cross was barred from entering New Orleans. However, it stops short of saying that the final word on that decision came from Governor Blanco.

Louisiana state officials from the state's Department of Homeland Security refused to let the Red Cross enter the city to distribute aid. Let me be absolutely clear on this. According to the American Red Cross themselves, it was the state of Louisiana and not the federal government that refused the ARC access to New Orleans to provide food and comfort to those remaining in the city after the flooding commenced. Of course, there were some media outlets that took to blaming the federal government, despite the fact that a simple phone call or email could have cleared that up instantly.

The rationale was that the state didn't want to provide services because that might compel people to remain in New Orleans instead of evacuating the city. What goes unsaid is how those people could possibly evacuate the city as the flooding commenced in New Orleans after the hurricane hit, leaving the Superdome and Convention Center essentially cutoff. If the ARC had managed to get in before the flooding, some of the misery could have been averted, though it would have meant that the ARC volunteers would have been stuck in the flooding as well.

The article claims that the Louisiana government stockpiled supplies for the facilities in New Orleans, but that isn't quite what was reported now, is it? There's a continuing disconnect between what the State Emergency Plan said, what was done, and what is being reported.

Meanwhile, questions continue to swirl around Michael Brown, and specifically about a padded resume. A couple of points. First, did that padded resume aid in his efforts during last year's hurricane response efforts in Florida, which were pretty good by most accounts? Second, whatever happened to vetting people before putting them in office by checking resume sources? To claim to be a professor of a college and to find out that all the guy ever did in the college was take a couple of classes is beyond the usual padding and is a flat out lie. Brown claims that the article distorts some issues. That's nitpicking on his part and he's in no position to argue - his response to Katrina has been inadequate as I've noted before.

He should resign if he isn't fired. Being buddies with the President has its privileges, but it cannot and should not put people at risk because they are not the right person for the job. Cronyism and nepotism are hallmarks of government service - you have to know the right people to get stuff done. It happens under Democrats and Republicans.

But will people please realize that putting guys into important positions like Homeland Security Directors (former NJ Gov. McGreevey - that means not your 'boyfriend') or FEMA director (President Bush - that means your friend who used to raise and market horses) make sure that they are overqualified for the job. These jobs are crucibles. A crisis situation can happen at anytime and knowing that the person for the job can handle it is a paramount concern. The person selected for the job must be capable of making snap decisions, assembling cogent plans before disasters strike, and following the plans (as well as making sure that everyone knows what the plans are).

I know that I'm probably writing this for naught. People will forget about this crisis and think that this is simply how things are and never expect more from their local, state, or federal officials. And they'll themselves forget to prepare for the next disaster, whether it be a natural disaster or a terrorist attack and hope that government bails them out - and whine about the slow response the next time too.

UPDATE:
Michael Brown of FEMA was confirmed by a bipartisan Senate while Democrats held the majority? Democrats confirmed Brown for the job! Advise and consent - a hallmark of Congressional oversight is supposed to vet these people for these kinds of jobs. Why was the resume issue never checked out when the Senate was busy approving him? Are they into rubber stamping appointees? There's even a transcript of the confirmation hearing. He was approved with bipartisan support on a voice vote.

Who fell asleep at the switch? Congress.

Yet, it is some of those same members of Congress who shout loudest about the failures of the Administration and its agencies while Congress not only is supposed to oversee appropriations, but the selection of the political appointees to those agencies. If Congress fails in its duties, then the agencies may be run by people who shouldn't be running them. That's a bipartisan failure - and it is repeated on a near daily basis.

This does not excuse Brown, but if he was not an appropriate choice for the job, why did Congress fail to make that finding when he was up for confirmation?

UPDATE:
John of The Donovan has some more thoughts on the responsibilities and oversight involved in planning disaster response.

UPDATE:
Investors Business Daily looks back on FEMA response during the Clinton years and finds that the response was different - it took more than a month before FEMA (then headed by James Lee Witt) to deal with Hurricane Floyd's path of destruction through the Eastern US. This is just a continuation of failures, though not nearly as bad as first thought.

Those early estimates of 10,000 dead in New Orleans seem to be overstating things a bit. Simulations had predicted upwards of 62,000 dead. Think about that a bit.

I've commented elsewhere that Mayor Nagin and Gov. Blanco will be considered heroes because they led the largest mass evacuation in history. Critics will claim that the numbers of survivors should be the lasting legacy. No doubt that hundreds of thousands of people got out of harms' way because of evacuations, but that does not address the miserable failure of state and local authorities to care for those people who could not get out of the way on their own. I would argue that it is the failure to adequately provide for those unable to provide for themselves - the poor, invalid, or homebound elderly that could not get out of New Orleans on their own, and told to go to the Superdome where there was no long term provisions for them that will be the lasting legacy. And it up to the state and local authorities to make those preparations, not anyone else.