Democrats are piling on their criticism of FEMA Director Mike Brown. But perhaps in this single case they are actually on to something. Stories like this just keep coming in.
It’s hard to defend a man appointed to protect American citizens in federal emergencies whose previous “experience” includes horse judging and being ex-FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh’s college roommate. Am I exaggerating? Unfortunately, I am not. From the Boston Herald:
“Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association, a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado. ‘We do disciplinary actions, certification of (show trial) judges. We hold classes to train people to become judges and stewards. And we keep records,'’ explained a spokeswoman for the IAHA commissioner's office. ‘This was his full-time job . . . for 11 years,’ she added. Brown was forced out of the position after a spate of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures. ‘He was asked to resign,’ Bill Pennington, president of the IAHA at the time, confirmed last night.”
There’s a consistent theme of cronyism and failure running through Katrina’s fallout at both the state and federal level. It’s bad enough whenever this happens, but there is no excuse and there should be zero tolerance for unqualified officials being appointed to positions that involve national security. Isn’t this what got Jim McGreevey booted from office?
UPDATE: Joe Allabaugh now says he and Mike Brown were friends in college but not roommates. However, they have remained friends and had a close history in Texas/Oklahoma politics. From last night's transcript of ABC News' "World News Tonight":
"A correction on a report last night about FEMA Director Michael Brown. We and other news organizations reported that Brown was college roommates with a man who recommended him for the job, former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh. Allbaugh told us that was not correct. They were friends, but not roommates. Although Allbaugh said he is a registered lobbyist for Halliburton on disaster relief, he has not lobbied FEMA directly for Halliburton contracts."
