Posted on 09/03/2005 7:29:17 PM PDT by HAL9000
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Arkansan James Lee Witt, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, joined the Louisiana government Saturday to help direct the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.Witt, who ran FEMA from 1993 to 2001, said he will stay as long as he as needed.
"He will sit at the table for me, and he will be my voice at the table," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said.
Louisiana officials are getting stretched too thin and need help, she said.
"I like to hire the smartest people in the country," she added.
Witt has more than 25 years of disaster management experience.
FEMA had been strongly criticized in 1992 for its slow response to Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo. After Witt took over, the agency won praise for its vigorous reaction to Midwest floods and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.
Blanco said that, when she told Mike Brown, FEMA's current head, that she hoped to hire him, "he said, `That is absolutely the right thing to do. He will make a huge difference.'"
At the National Hurricane Conference in March, Witt said putting FEMA under the Homeland Security Department hurt its ability to deal with natural disasters.
On Saturday, he said, "Now's not the time to point blame at anyone."
Witt was head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services when Clinton was Arkansas governor.
Is that an admission of incompetence, or what?
Better to have Witt in there than Blanco. She's toast.
Isn't that "Bag of Cash" Rodney from day minus one as Clinton's Arkansas Transportation Secretary?
She's started grabbing for money on Monday, and since she has no voice (and Landrieu apparently doesn't either), she got a hired gun.
What recovery?
All the people are being relocated.
Without people, there's no city.
Great minds think alike but your fingers are faster. :0)
Now we will know where all the BLAME BUSH HE HATES BLACKS, "leaks" will be coming from.
It's my opinion that every state should have at least one Democratic governor in its lifetime just to remind themselves why it should happen as rarely as possible.
I've never been a big fan of Witt, but when you're at the bottom, everything else is up.
Listening to Witt talk gives me the hives.
Abdicating the thrown.
Nonsense, she's a "victim" of the Bush Admin.
Don't you watch the "news"?
Nice...I guess Blanko finally found the Preparedness Folder with the forms in it...only they're from the Clinton adminstration. I'm sure Witt will pull down a nice chunk of cash from those unused emergency funds.
It's more like an admission that it is POLITICAL.
Who is Nagin going to hire?
She has apparently started getting some good advice. Now, if she can find a pen and start signing some emergency purchase orders it will all work out.
....because I'm too stupid, incompetent and disrespected.
Now the governor wants us to believe she's in a position to make decisions now. I'd say it was Bush once again who got his man.
Well alright! we have a voice. Now if we can get a brain, and some action, we can build a "Franken-Govenor!
damage control spin begins....
But who will think for you?
Nagin will hire the best criminal defense lawyer he can find.
Yes, he was implicated in a scheme to get a $35,000-per-month job for Roger Clinton from an Alabama airport developer.
the loser has found a voice....but she still lacks the ability to think.
He was also reported to have placed a bag of cash on Clinton's desk shortly before he became trasnportation secretary for Arkansas, if I've got the right guy. I'm fairly sure it was him, because he got the same position at the federal level.
Unlike the people of Louisiana when they 'hired' you!
In that case, she hired the wrong guy.
For more than one reason. Her constituency just moved to Texas.
Freepers do the nexus better than anyone I've ever seen.
thanx HAL9000
You don't think the Ragin' Cajun will come to their rescue?
Great, really nice.
Thank you for these updates - what a good filter you are since I can't keep up :)
a filter....lol...it's better than being part of her "voice" : )
She is if she ever hopes to hold elected office again.
Take a look at this post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476807/posts
The Wash Post is reporting that Bush asked her to turn over control of the troops, and she refused for partisan reasons.
The Toon made a phone call, and LO! His Will Be Done.
This is hysterical.
lol
The state of LA is a non-player anymore in this story.
She's got this Clintonoid in there just to muddy the water with continual second-guessing.
The guy is a civilian, and he'll act like the director emeritus of FEMA.
I don't doubt that the citizens of Houston acted out of Christian charity and are an example to all of us.
But moving all the 'rat voters out of LA was a very slick move.
I don't know about that......looks to me like a Clinton power play.
That's all LA needs, another layer of indecision.
Did you notice the Governor prompting the Prez at the mikes on Fri? She kept whispering names for him to use. After the second whispered prompt he ignored her.
And by the way, that clown had nothing to do with the great recovery from the Northridge earthquake. California had a REAL governor then, Pete Wilson, who took charge from the get-go and got stuff done. Wilson even turned down federal money for reconstruction of I-10 and personally handled the contract so it could get done faster. If FEMA had been in charge they would still be rebuilding that damn highway. Wilson got it done in six months. That's the guy that somebody needs to hire.
Rudi.
Louisiana Governor has thrown in the towel. I think she knows just how badly she coped with this disaster, how she failed the state.
The corrupt Democrat machine in Louisiana put this unqualified woman into the office. Take that James Carville! Take that Landrieu mafia!
I assume this guy is a 'rat'?
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