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FEMA Leader Under Clinton Makes It Pay
NY Times ^ | 10 October 2005 | LESLIE WAYNE and GLEN JUSTICE

Posted on 10/09/2005 8:51:48 PM PDT by NautiNurse

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 - Not long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, James Lee Witt, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and his colleagues called officials on the Gulf Coast to offer their help.

Soon after the storm hit, the State of Louisiana signed up with Witt Associates, a disaster consulting firm. Within days, Mr. Witt had become a fixture at the state's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, advising the governor and sleeping in a trailer. He even figured out a way for FEMA to reimburse the state for his firm's fees, which the company estimates at $4 million to $6 million over the next year.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: clintonistas; fema; jamesleewitt; katrina; x42
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Another Clinton era crony in the news again.
1 posted on 10/09/2005 8:51:57 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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To: LA Woman3; Ellesu; cajungirl; dogbyte12

James Lee Witt story


2 posted on 10/09/2005 8:55:17 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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To: NautiNurse

No end to Clinton grifters, crooks and butt people.


3 posted on 10/09/2005 8:56:57 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: ncountylee; Rockabilly Rebel
His company sees helping to sell disaster-related products as one of its core missions. "We would like to be like Consumer Reports for this stuff, to have the Witt seal of approval," said Mark Merritt, a partner in the firm.

For Whelen Engineering, based in Chester, Conn., Mr. Witt helped draft FEMA regulations requiring municipalities to alert residents with a voice siren, a Whelen product, which does not just sound but tells people where to go. Though the regulations have yet to be adopted, John Olson, the company's president, is pleased.

Kickbacks?

5 posted on 10/09/2005 9:07:30 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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To: ncountylee

No end to Clinton grifters, crooks and butt people.
---
An infinite source -- he has the whole radical liberal wing still pandering to him. A disgusting spectacle.


6 posted on 10/09/2005 9:08:45 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: NautiNurse

Stinks to high heaven!


8 posted on 10/09/2005 9:11:47 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: NautiNurse

With all the talk about Mike Brown's being underqualified for FEMA director, no one ever talks about how James Lee Witt did nothing more than administer the Head Start programs in Arkansas before his Clinton nod.


9 posted on 10/09/2005 9:25:18 PM PDT by montag813
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To: montag813
His childhood home was once knocked down by a tornado; it later burned to the ground.

Tall and trim with striking blue eyes, Mr. Witt speaks with an a twang that reveals his country roots. He never went to college but ran a small construction business and became a county judge, a position that does not require a law degree. He met Mr. Clinton, who installed Mr. Witt as Arkansas's disaster chief and later

Exactly the same thing I thought when I read this paragraph. According to this, anyone who has ever experienced a disaster as a child qualifies to be a government player in charge of billions of $$$ per year once they reach adulthood.

It's a good (and profitable) gig if you know the right people.

MKM

10 posted on 10/09/2005 10:16:26 PM PDT by mykdsmom (Congress is the only whorehouse in America that loses money!)
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To: mykdsmom

It amazes me that most of those Clinton people just hang around, whereas the Bush people had real jobs as well-paid CEO's before they came back to government.


11 posted on 10/09/2005 10:59:05 PM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: NautiNurse
Kickbacks?

Not exactly.

Probably a.) fees from client governments, plus b.) commissions from sales of client products.

Unethical? Certainly. Illegal? Well, that would depend on the meaning of "is"...

12 posted on 10/09/2005 11:06:08 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: ClaireSolt
This is ridiculous. It was, after all the Clinton Administration that left FEMA in such a mess that it could not handle the devastation of Katrina.
13 posted on 10/09/2005 11:08:35 PM PDT by H. Paul Pressler IV
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To: mykdsmom
No cronyism there!

Ugh, this sticks to the core.

14 posted on 10/09/2005 11:20:48 PM PDT by OldFriend (One Man With Courage Makes a Majority ~ Andrew Jackson)
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To: NautiNurse

Looks like he didn't do that great of a job then ... almost like the 1995 Heat Wave in Chicago.


15 posted on 10/10/2005 1:52:00 AM PDT by RepublicanWithIntegrity
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To: NautiNurse

Looks like he didn't do that great of a job then ... almost like the 1995 Heat Wave in Chicago.


16 posted on 10/10/2005 1:52:02 AM PDT by RepublicanWithIntegrity
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To: NautiNurse

Looks like he didn't do that great of a job then ... almost like the 1995 Heat Wave in Chicago.


17 posted on 10/10/2005 1:52:03 AM PDT by RepublicanWithIntegrity
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To: NautiNurse

Does anyone still believe New Orleans or Louisiana should be rebuilt with Taxpayer's money?

I don't.....

Semper Fi


18 posted on 10/10/2005 2:19:20 AM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: NautiNurse
He even figured out a way for FEMA to reimburse the state for his firm's fees, which the company estimates at $4 million to $6 million over the next year.


----How about reimbursing the taxpayers some of the money they have spent so that the corruption can remain live and well in the State of Louisiana ?
19 posted on 10/10/2005 3:52:53 AM PDT by WasDougsLamb (Just my opinion.Go easy on me........)
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To: NautiNurse

That headline makes it all sound so wonderful and fine. As we all know, a former GOP / Conservative FEMA official would never have garnered such a forgiving headline.


20 posted on 10/10/2005 5:09:23 AM PDT by Donna Lee Nardo
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