Posted on 09/03/2005 9:07:35 PM PDT by aft_lizard
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hey she's working hard, already cancelled school for Tue.
Thank you for this perspective which I had not even given a thought to. Of course, with the population shift new congressional districts will have to be drawn up and massive shifts of power will most likely occur.
WHAT is your problem? Your hyperbole is more offensive than a double post which this is not.
I request that you post the urls to the other posts of the Washington Post article that you infer were already on the board.
"When we get back to the states... ,"
-- NBC news anchor Brian Williams,
forgetting he was in the United States"
It's the "Liberal Blue State-Red State" thang.
In his mind, anything south of the Mason-Dixon line and between the two coast isn't considered his "America"
Tom Brokaw he ain't
He's posted the same message on several different threads. He needs to go to bed.
I was giving Blanco and Nagin the benefit of the doubt, trying not to be "political."
That lasted until I heard Nagin go off about the canal not being fixed and there being "too many chiefs and not enough Indians."
At that point my mind went back to jams I've found myself in and how poor leadership causes people not to listen to leadership. I figured if nobody is listening to him, maybe it's because he doesn't have their confidence any longer.
Everything I've heard since then confirms that.
But I do rate Nagin a level or so above Blanco.
I mean good grief, it sounds like Nagin wanted to declare martial law and Blanco over ruled him.
I mean good grief, it sounds like Nagin wanted to declare martial law and Blanco over ruled him.
Thanks for posting. Lots of interesting stuff in this article.
With all the info posted in it, even the authors attempts to paint Bush in a bad light cannot overlook the complete ineptness of the Governor
(still no state of emergency in LA)Huh?
GOVERNOR BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCYgov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=973BATON ROUGE, LA--Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today issued Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, declaring a state of emergency for the state Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat, carrying severe storms, high winds, and torrential rain that may cause flooding and damage to private property and public facilities, and threaten the safety and security of the citizens of the state of Louisiana The state of emergency extends from Friday, August 26, 2005, through Sunday, September 25, 2005, unless terminated sooner.
"of which Harry Connick Jr.'s family is part"
I was sorry to hear this. I like his music.
Looks like they have changed the headline to reflect the story, no?
He was, it's call NOLA
There you have it in a nutshell.
I kid you not.
when all is said and done, the Gov'ner and that damn mayor will be hung by their gonads.....if they had 'em..
Thanks for a good post.
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