US law required feds to give Blanco advice she needed -- the feds failed

[highplainsdem]

At least that's the way I read it, after perusing the copy of the Stafford Act on FEMA's website, at http://www.fema.gov/library/stafact.shtm .

Bush supporters are making a fuss over the point that the governor has to request troops, or request them in the proper way, and Governor Blanco supposedly failed in this respect. It's been suggested here and elsewhere that the governors of Mississippi and Alabama probably were given advice on requesting troops by the feds, and I saw a reply in one of the threads about Blanco saying that an ex-governor had reportedly been coached by FEMA.

Blanco should have received such help, too, according to section 302 of the Stafford Act, which refers to coordinating officers:


Functions of Federal coordinating officer

In order to effectuate the purposes of this Act, the Federal coordinating officer, within the affected area, shall--

1. make an initial appraisal of the types of relief most urgently needed;
2. establish such field offices as he deems necessary and as are authorized by the President;
3. coordinate the administration of relief, including activities of the State and local governments, the American National Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Mennonite Disaster Service, and other relief or disaster assistance organizations, which agree to operate under his advice or direction, except that nothing contained in this Act shall limit or in any way affect the responsibilities of the American National Red Cross under the Act of January 5, 1905, as amended (33 Stat. 599) <36 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.>; and;
4. take such other action, consistent with authority delegated to him by the President, and consistent with the provisions of this Act, as he may deem necessary to assist local citizens and public officials in promptly obtaining assistance to which they are entitled.;
5. State coordinating officer When the President determines assistance under this Act is necessary, he shall request that the Governor of the affected State designate a State coordinating officer for the purpose of coordinating State and local disaster assistance efforts with those of the Federal Government.


It's #4 there, the requirement to "assist local citizens and public officials in promptly obtaining assistance to which they are entitled," that places any blame the White House is trying to shift to Blanco squarely back on them. The federal government has advisory responsibilities under the Stafford Act. The "it's her fault because she didn't ask" excuse ignores the law.

Section 402 of the Stafford Act also states that the President may "provide techical and advisory assistance to affected State and local governments."

[highplainsdem]

1. Kicking, because this is an important point in Blanco's defense.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

2. This is too important to not kick

My gut feeling was this was the case. Thanks for finding and posting!

[Imagevision]

21. NO. is under water and the need to fill out proper forms???

as the people began to drown??? -- I'm not buying this pass the buck postion the government is taking!


http://downingstreetmemo.com/ fill out the proper forms, only from a Bush administration...!

[Nikki Stone 1]

3. kicking because Junior is a moran

......

[...of J.Temperance]

4. I think we should find a way to get this information to Governor Blanco

I mean DIRECTLY to her, because it's important and she needs all the help and goodwill that she can get, being up against the Bush bastard and his mediawhores.

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. Email her ?

?

[...of J.Temperance]

8. Or drop it through her door in Baton Rouge

If it were printed out and if somebody from these boards could drop it at the Governor's Mansion.

Actually, we could email the information to Blanco and ALSO see if we could get someone to drop a copy at her door as well...you know, JUST to be safe and sure that the Governor's DEFINATELY got at least a copy.

[tblue37]

15. Send it to Joe Conason, Steve GIlliard, Mo Dowd,

Joshua Micah Marshall, James Wolcott, Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert, Frank Rich and every other progressive blogger or columnist you can think of.

Also send to Brian WIlliams and Bob Schieffer(sp??).

[highplainsdem]

17. Done.

[...of J.Temperance]

30. Well done for sending it along :) n/t

[highplainsdem]

31. Thanks! :)

[...of J.Temperance]

33. You're welcome mon amie :) n/t

[lumpy]

6. Bump up. Thanks for the post.

Bush didn't respond immediately to Blanco's 1st request for federal assistance. I'm sure he is unaware of the Stafford Act( as well as most everything). A true leader with guts would have gotten on the problem at once rallying the troops and agencies into action to do the job that needed to be done.

[Nikki Stone 1]

7. I don't think he was unaware. I think he was deliberately playing Russian

Roulette with the lives of hurricane victims to stick it to a Democratic governor.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

9. I think, Bush scared the heck out out them, with not providing the

support needed immediately and they are afraid to speak up. I see serious books coming out after the crisis subsides.

The Repubs. have always played the unfortunately, short term memory game that exists here. What would happen if they don't bow to Bush now? The fast or slow, reconstruction of LA, Al. and Ms are currently on the table. Would you bite the hand that feeds your people?

[applegrove]

10. I still believe an A-rab ran through Washington on Sunday night

with a GIANT MAGNET & erased all institutional knowlege. It must be so.

:sarcasm:

[Horse with no Name]

11. Finally someone paying attention to the ONE document

that answers every question as to who is responsible.
Good luck...I tried for 3 days to get people to pay attention.:)

[Coexist]

20. this needs to be media-blasted -don't you think?

[Horse with no Name]

24. Letter I sent to Olbermann on Thursday

All disasters come under the Stafford Act, Title V
http://www.ohioema.org/robertt.htm

It says...without a doubt...who is responsible and at what point they accept responsibility:

Sec. 302. (a) Immediately upon his declaration of a major disaster or emergency, the President shall appoint a Federal coordinating officer to operate in the affected area.(disaster declared on the 27th, President took responsibility).

(b) In order to effectuate the purposes of this Act, the Federal coordinating officer, within the affected area, shall

(1) make an initial appraisal of the types of relief most urgently needed;
(2) establish such field offices as he deems necessary and as are authorized by the President;
(3) coordinate the administration of relief, including activities of the State and local government, the American National Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Mennonite Disaster Service, and other relief or disaster assistance organizations, which agree to operate under his advice or direction, except that nothing contained in this Act shall limit or in any way affect the responsibilities of the American National Red Cross under the Act of January 5, 1905, as amended (33 Stat. 599); and
(4) take such other action, consistent with authority delegated to him by the President, and consistent with the provisions of this Act, as he may deem necessary to assist local citizens and public officials in promptly obtaining assistance to which they are entitled.

(c) When the President determines assistance under this Act is necessary, he shall request that the Governor of the affected State designate a State coordinating officer for the purposes of coordinating State and local disaster assistance efforts with those of the Federal Government.

The next part that is interesting:
Sec. 303. The President shall form emergency support teams of Federal personnel to be deployed in an area affected by a major disaster or emergency. Such emergency support teams shall assist the Federal coordinating officer in carrying out his responsibilities pursuant to his Act. Upon request of the President, the head of any Federal agency is directed to detail to temporary duty with the emergency support teams on either a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis, as is determined necessary by the President, such personnel within the administrative jurisdiction of the head of the Federal agency as the President may need or believe to be useful for carrying out the functions of the emergency support teams, each such detail to be without loss of seniority, pay, or other employee status.

However, there is always an escape clause:

The Federal Government shall not be liable for any claim based upon the exercise or performance of or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a Federal agency or an employee of the Federal Government in carrying out the provisions of this Act.

Be it as it may...this absolves them of liability, not responsibility. There is a huge difference.

Love your show! Keep up the good work!

[SuniSurf]

12. Link to Governor's office

Here is the link

http://louisianahelp.org/

I'm not computer savy enough to copy the above info to her. Can someone help please?

[tkmorris]

13. True, and really obvious, but

We need Blanco to stand up. It really should be obvious to everyone that in a situation like this the Feds would never just watch what was happening and say decide they couldn't help because Blanco didn't dot her 'i's. Couldn't they manage a simple phone call to say "You know Gov. Blanco, we'd love to help but you need to ask more specifically. In writing"? We're being asked to believe that they sat on their hands and let N.O. die rather than request this? Bullshit.

Blanco needs to detail what the Feds requested of her, when they requested it, and what their explanations were for arriving so late. Right now she is making it easy to pin the blame on her.

[krkaufman]

14. Which gets back to my never-answered question...

Functions of Federal coordinating officer

In order to effectuate the purposes of this Act, the Federal coordinating officer, within the affected area, shall-- ...

... What happened to the "Federal Coordinating Officer", William Lokey? Lokey was appointed as the Federal Coordinating Officer in the Federal declaration of a State of Emergency for Louisiana:

Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

See the following thread for the last Lokey sighting... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4707005

[ellenfl]

28. isn't that guy in the pics of bush touring no? i have seen his

pic somewhere recently.

ellen fl

[highplainsdem]

16. kick

[underpants]

18. Nominated (3)

Well done

[Coexist]

19. kick - nominated

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Is there proof that the other governors got coaching?

[blitzburgh55]

23. Great info, thanks.

The freeps keep saying Blanco had to ask for troops. My question is, who sent the Coast Guard? They were there right away.

[MsUnderstood]

25. The freeps are pushing the lies given by Bush

She asked for help on the 26th, and Bush declared a disaster zone on the 27th. BUSH then became responsible for coordinating the efforts. . .not Blanco.

[blitzburgh55]

26. That's what I was getting at

Since Blanco asked for federal assistance and a SOE was declared, the Coast Guard showing up is proof that Blanco did all she needed to do.

[Imagevision]

27. The Buck stops with Bush - lets get on with investigation...!

[MiniMe]

29. OMG, I just talked to a republican who is blinded by the right.

She really thinks that Bush was too busy and that this should have been handled from the bottom up. I actually read her the items from the FEMA website, didn't make a difference. She didn't think that there was anything wrong with * not knowing how bad it was until Thursday and could understand how aide was turned away.

Unbelievable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. Yes I agree

And it's common sense even without this document.

[highplainsdem]

34. Kicking, because I expect Blanco to come under fire even more now

that Bush is "taking responsibility" -- at least "to the extent" he thinks the federal government is responsible.