Baking "Brownie"
FEMA chief (as of 8:30 a.m.) Michael Brown has come under much fire for his feckless and slow management of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, the vast majority of it well deserved. Today Brown's serious lack of qualifications for the job break onto the front pages, with a Washington Post off-lead article covering Brown and other top FEMA officials. Ken Silverstein has a similar piece in the LA Times, titled "Top FEMA Jobs: No Experience Required."
Time magazine also gets into the act today, with an online look at just how reliable Brown's meager qualifications are: "an investigation by Time has found discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time of his nomination in 2001 to the job as deputy chief of FEMA." They have a number of examples, so be sure to stop by and take a look at those if you've got a moment.
This sounds like the sort of thing that should have gotten the Senate's "advice and consent" juices flowing, doesn't it? Aren't these resumes and qualifications reviewed and the nominees quizzed during the confirmation process? Well, as Juliette Kayyem reports over at TPMCafe, the answer in this case would appear to be "not so much." Brown's confirmation hearing to become deputy FEMA director (he was later 'grandfathered' into his current position when the Department of Homeland Security was created), lasted a grant total of 42 minutes. Yes, 42 minutes to confirm the nomination of the man who'd be in charge of the federal government's emergency management arm. Brown's candidacy sailed through the Governmental Affairs Committee and passed the Senate on a voice vote.
Great. Very effective oversight process.
This greatly diminishes the faith I had expressed earlier with a Collins-Lieberman-led investigation into Katrina by their committee (Lieberman was chairing it during the Brown confirmation process back in 2002), and I reiterate my view from yesterday that it is only an independent investigation that can be counted upon to truly get to the bottom of this mess.
posted by JBD @ 8:30 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I am not sure why so many people are caught flatfooted on this since Bush was known in Texas for his cronyism. Check in lexus/nexus for an article in the Houston Post when he was Governor about all the cronyism then. I believe many of his contributors and friends were going bankrupt and the government (we the people) were taking over the losses on big buildings and then they were being sold back to some of the same people at pennies on the dollar. Largess to his political base at our expense. It has just gotten more sophisticated with cash in Baghdad and jobs for unqualified people in major positions.
I am so disgusted, I don't even know what to say anymore... I am so angry.
Jeremy, you always have an interesting slant on news items, but this time you missed who should be blamed.
John Bolton, by most Dems and many Republicans, was unqualified for the UN Ambassador -- yet, the common theme we heard was "The President deserves to pick his team." Bernie Kerik is the most significant vetting problem for the Bush Administration. I suspect that there are other "inflated" resumes, but those have not been challenged/discovered.
The Senate can count votes and will not waste their time on matters they cannot win ... even if they are right. Likewise, the media is not going to challenge candidates that most Americans could not name before last week.
The blame belongs to the Bush Administration ... if anything the Media should have followed up on Bush's comments after the Second Presidential Debate in
St. Louis, Mo. on October 8, 2004 to find out if those unqualified appointees are still in their jobs.
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Linda Grabel : President Bush, during the last four years, you have made thousands of decisions that have affected millions of lives. Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision, and what you did to correct it. Thank you.
George Bush : Now, you asked what mistakes. I made some mistakes in appointing people, but I'm not going to name them. I don't want to hurt their feelings on national TV.
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McPherson Hall
Oh I totally agree that the blame rests with the Administration in picking Brown - but the Senate does have a role here, they can't get away completely. It's their job to examine the records and qualifications of these nominees and see if they're the right people for the job (hence my opposition to Bolton as well).
As for the '04 debate line, I'm guessing that Bush was probably referring most pointedly there to Paul O'Neill, his first treasury secretary.
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