Posted on 12/03/2005 6:47:10 PM PST by digger48
NEW ORLEANS - As Hurricane Katrina roared ashore and thousands of people waited days amid the floodwater for rescue, a series of letters passed between the governor and the White House that reveal delays, claims that requests for federal help weren't received, and concerns on both sides about public relations.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco late Friday released 100,000 pages of memos, handwritten notes, e-mails, phone logs and other documents requested by congressional committees that are now investigating what happened behind the scenes in the frantic days surrounding the deadly Aug. 29 storm.
Among those documents are the back-and-forth communications between Blanco's office and the White House, starting with a letter Blanco sent President Bush a day before the hurricane hit.
"I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments and that supplementary federal assistance will be necessary," Blanco wrote.
Three days after the storm, Blanco wrote Bush asking that the 256th Louisiana National Guard Brigade be sent home from Iraq to help. The governor also asked for more generators, medicine, health care workers and mortuaries.
Five days later, Bush assistant Maggie Grant e-mailed Blanco aide Paine Gowen to say that the White House did not receive the letter.
"We found it on the governor's Web site but we need 'an original,' for our staff secretary to formally process the requests she is making," Grant wrote. "We are on the job but appreciate your help with a technical request. Tnx!"
The stack of documents also includes a timeline put together by Blanco's staff detailing the state response; notes expressing frustration about missing items such as a communications center for police and rescuers promised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and police reports, including logs of calls from people trapped amid the floodwater. Other documents show how Blanco's aids were inundated with requests from celebrities and dignitaries wanting to visit the city.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Saturday that she hadn't seen the documents.
"There are many reviews underway to look back and review how the events unfolded during that week and all levels of government have to take stock of what happened, act on that and make sure that it doesn't happen again," Perino said.
Other exchanges between the governor's staff and the White House show public relations was a priority for both administrations.
Grant, Bush's aide, e-mailed Gowen Sep. 13 asking if Blanco would be attending a Washington, D.C., service marking the president's "National Day of Prayer." If she didn't, Grant wrote, "We'd love to have someone like ( Homeland Security) Secretary (Michael) Chertoff attend a service with her."
For the state's part, Blanco's chief of staff Andy Kopplin e-mailed employees Sept. 4 saying they needed to get national supporters to say "that the federal response was anemic" and asked them to point out budget cuts to levee programs.
While Blanco's office wanted to blame the federal government, the documents show that her staff didn't want it to appear as if the federal government was seizing state power.
When Bush visited New Orleans on Sept. 5 Blanco was initially supposed to visit evacuees in Houston, but Blanco spokeswoman Denise Bottcher didn't like the idea of Bush being in the state when the governor wasn't. "Reinforces the notion that she's not in charge and LA needs to be federalized," she e-mailed Kopplin.
Blanco's communication's director Bob Mann agreed, the documents show, and Blanco stayed to meet Bush.
The Democratic governor's staff also griped that Republicans were attacking Blanco. "Rove is on the prowl," says one unexplained Sept. 3 message from Kopplin to Mann, a reference to Bush adviser Karl Rove.
A few days after the storm I read from Blanco's chief of staff saying they wouldn't turn it over to the feds because then the feds could blame them.
All about politics all the time.
About got it right.
Grant,... asking if Blanco would be attending a Washington service ... If she didn't... "We'd love to have someone like ... Chertoff attend a service with her."
For the state's part, Blanco's chief of staff ... e-mailed employees ... saying they needed to get national supporters to say "that the federal response was anemic" and asked them to point out budget cuts to levee programs.
AP trying to be "fair and balanced" by first stating some inoccuous PR thing by the Bush Admin as if it offsets a clearly damning email on the part of the Blanko admin to blame the feds.
100,000 pages? And who says government isn't big enough yet?
Seems like I saw something recently about only 19% in Louisiana want Blanco reelected. That by itself is reason enough to begin lashing out at anyone who happens to be handy.
"national supporters"
The AP writer and editors are showing just how much they march for the dems. The actual words described in the papers released on Friday "..our national surrogates.." and clearly the MSM responded, and as this shows, they continue to. See an earlier article about this in the Times Picyaune and posted here on FR.
Hmmmmm...sounds like the same kind of estimates that were used for the "thousands" of bodies that were alleged to be stacked in the Superdome!
Katrina never hit New Orleans.
But its storm bands had a most disproportionate effect, as rising waters swamped the substandard levees, which once breached, could not be sealed until water had finally managed to reach its own level. Even then, pumping out the flooded districts was a pretty dicey proposition, as the damaged levees are still far from able to withstand another serious onslaught.
There is still a living core to the city. But it will be a LONG time before there sufficient infrastructure, economic recovery, and adequate housing for a city of 400,000 again.
You're assuming it will or even should be a city of 400,000 again....ever.
Clearly there has to be a city there for industrial and historical purposes. But, clearly that piece of land is not suitable for to support that many people. Not without some SERIOUS terraforming of some kind to get the whole thing above sea level (if that's even reasonable).
First of all, these people were obviously more worried about public perception and politics rather than taking care of the ones they supposedly serve. And don't you find it strange that the original request for federal assistance by Blanco's office never arrived?
It has been heavily reported and confirmed that Blanco refused to declare a state of emergency, yet her office is now attempting to cover their asses with false documents to make it look as if they were pleading for assistance. Somebody call Bill Burkett!
Looks to me that Blanco is back pedalling fast. Notice all the swipes at the White House? Yet another concentrated effort by the Dems to attack Bush for their own failures. They did this crap under Reagan too while they portrayed anything under Clinton as the greatest thing in the universe.
It won't work this time. The left is getting so small and narrow no one is listening or caring.
I was thinking the same thing.
and how much time did it take to freshly create these items.?
Neither Nigin, nor Blanco have the brains to sign a birthday card.
"For the state's part, Blanco's chief of staff Andy Kopplin e-mailed employees Sept. 4 saying they needed to get national supporters to say "that the federal response was anemic" and asked them to point out
budget cuts to levee programs."
The levees are the key issue surrounding New Orleans, Katrina, and Louisiana. Had the levees not failed, New Orleans would have received broken glass, downed trees and power lines, and shingle damage. Instead the levees failed and the damages will reach an appreciable fraction of one trillion dollars.
But what is more important, blame or floating dead with thousands more still in shelters or attics, near death themselves?
That Andy Kopplin raised this issue so soon after the storm indicates more to me than simple CYA. This memo raises the issue of known guilt, that the levee money had been misspent, that those in power knew it because they profited from it, and that they recognized the risk to their careers and criminal records.
We already know that the Orleans Levee District and the Water and Sewer Board designed the levee upgrade at the 17th Street breach, that they ignored their own engineering partners recommendations regarding sheet pile dpeth, that they let the contracts, and that they didn't let the Corps of Engineers inspect the plans until work was already underway. But these are details, not the kind of thing that pops into your mind when thousands of people are dying before your eyes. No, the state of mind that results in this kind of memo at a time like this is a prevalent assumption of long term, large scale guilt.
I wonder what ELSE we are going to find out about the levee breaches and Orleans Levee District Board corruption before all this comes to light?
The Democrats are just outrageous. Why would we ever want them in power again. Here we have JFK and LBJ's Attorney General going over to defend Sadam H.
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