Posted on 09/03/2005 7:29:17 PM PDT by HAL9000
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Arkansan James Lee Witt, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, joined the Louisiana government Saturday to help direct the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.Witt, who ran FEMA from 1993 to 2001, said he will stay as long as he as needed.
"He will sit at the table for me, and he will be my voice at the table," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
Louisiana officials are getting stretched too thin and need help, she said.
"I like to hire the smartest people in the country," she added.
Witt has more than 25 years of disaster management experience.
FEMA had been strongly criticized in 1992 for its slow response to Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo. After Witt took over, the agency won praise for its vigorous reaction to Midwest floods and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.
Blanco said that, when she told Mike Brown, FEMA's current head, that she hoped to hire him, "he said, `That is absolutely the right thing to do. He will make a huge difference.'"
At the National Hurricane Conference in March, Witt said putting FEMA under the Homeland Security Department hurt its ability to deal with natural disasters.
On Saturday, he said, "Now's not the time to point blame at anyone."
Witt was head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services when Clinton was Arkansas governor.
lol
The state of LA is a non-player anymore in this story.
She's got this Clintonoid in there just to muddy the water with continual second-guessing.
The guy is a civilian, and he'll act like the director emeritus of FEMA.
I don't doubt that the citizens of Houston acted out of Christian charity and are an example to all of us.
But moving all the 'rat voters out of LA was a very slick move.
I don't know about that......looks to me like a Clinton power play.
That's all LA needs, another layer of indecision.
Did you notice the Governor prompting the Prez at the mikes on Fri? She kept whispering names for him to use. After the second whispered prompt he ignored her.
And by the way, that clown had nothing to do with the great recovery from the Northridge earthquake. California had a REAL governor then, Pete Wilson, who took charge from the get-go and got stuff done. Wilson even turned down federal money for reconstruction of I-10 and personally handled the contract so it could get done faster. If FEMA had been in charge they would still be rebuilding that damn highway. Wilson got it done in six months. That's the guy that somebody needs to hire.
Rudi.
Louisiana Governor has thrown in the towel. I think she knows just how badly she coped with this disaster, how she failed the state.
The corrupt Democrat machine in Louisiana put this unqualified woman into the office. Take that James Carville! Take that Landrieu mafia!
I assume this guy is a 'rat'?
No, I missed it........names for him to use for what?
Yes he is. He was Clinton's head of FEMA. During his tenure FEMA was given extraordinary powers. They are now in the nuclear loop as it applies to national security. I don't know exactly what the parameters are, but it's true.
why am I not surprised he is a 'rat'---no doubt this is the DNC, et al, setting up the deal to place blame on Bush and open hearings, etc. that will go on for the rest of his term---maybe they got fooled by Rhenquist leaving us last nite and giving W a chance to really get some decency into the Supremes-sure hope so
Actually I think it's more of a CYA effort on behalf of the governor. She recognizes her failure and has actually taken a prudent step, finally. She'll declare a state emergency tomorrow, probably at his suggestion. Heavens, I hope she does. If she doesn't she should step down.
Witt isn't your typical make political points type of guy, although I'd never gample on anything when it comes to a Clintinoid. He is a milktoast of the highest order in public.
Witt probably costs them at least $120k, with a expense account on top of that. And Witt probably brings along his personal assistant (alias, the girlfriend). And there has to be a SUV somewhere in this deal for Witt. The two pluses are that Witt can talk straight at the FEMA guy in their own lingo...and he can give a decent press conference. Blanko was drawing blanks on both of those activities. The plus side is that Blanko can dump the guy by early next year and go back to regular ways of doing business then. I'm sure the FEMA team is happy to see this dude at the table instead of Blanko...that is a positive for the administration.
Bush was expressing appreciation for locals involved in the relief effort. She was adding names to the list.
Who's paying for Witt?
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