How FEMA delivered Florida for Bush

[markus]

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1104/110304cm1.htm">How FEMA delivered Florida for Bush

Now that President Bush has won Florida in his 2004 re-election bid, he may want to draft a letter of appreciation to Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Seldom has any federal agency had the opportunity to so directly and uniquely alter the course of a presidential election, and seldom has any agency delivered for a president as FEMA did in Florida this fall.

...

Charley hit on a Friday. With emergency supply trucks pre-positioned at depots for rapid, post-storm deployment, the agency was able to deliver seven truckloads of ice, water, cots, blankets, baby food and building supplies by Sunday. On Monday, hundreds of federal housing inspectors were on the ground, and FEMA already had opened its first one-stop disaster relief center.

By the end of September, three hurricanes later, the agency had processed 646,984 registrations for assistance with the help of phone lines operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Fifty-five shelters, 31 disaster recovery centers and six medical teams were in operation across the state. Federal and state assistance to households reached more than $361 million, nearly 300,000 housing inspections were completed, and roughly 150,000 waterproof tarps were provided for homeowners, according to FEMA figures.

More on Katrina here: http://wetbankguide.blogspot.com/">wetbankguide.blogspot.com

[DS1]

1. 24 hour hotline for how many months?

Isn't that a bit excessive? :eyes:

[electron_blue]

2. So how was Brown so on top of things last year?

Last year - they did what they were supposed to do. Not doing it this year in contrast looks deliberate.

[Divernan]

3. FEMA rank & file told keep Jeb/Fla. happy or "else"

The "else" being that FEMA would not continue to exist if they did not.

Then Brown suspended the standard requirement that claimants had to document actual costs, and hired a lot of inexperienced temporary workers to fill out the claims. Normal practise in the event of a huge disaster is that FEMA regional directors in other areas select which and how many staff they could spare to the disaster. In this case, they were stripped of power to control their own staffs, and Brown/Washington basically said, screw the rest of the country, and pulled huge numbers of FEMA personnel from other emergency situations everywhere in the country and ordered them to Florida.

[wakeme2008]

4. And most people forget the contractor Wage differences

FIRST thing Bush did in NOLA is tell the companies they did not have to pay the prevailing wage. BUT in Florida the contractors made higher than the prevailing wage. One DUer's bro make $2,000a week in FLORIDA.. That helps buy a lot of votes..... IMHO.....