Hush Money
This just in: disgraced and inarguably incompetant former FEMA director Michael Brown has been retained by the agency 'as a consultant' and is not, as you'd expect, gasping out his last through a homemade noose somewhere. My favorite part of all this is the peek it gives into an alien mindset. Witness this quote, and recall that this individual is speaking of a person whose incompetance is directly linked to thousands of deaths:
Less than a week after FEMA's dismal Hurricane Katrina response forced Brown out of the agency, he has been shopping his resume to headhunters and Washington PR firms. And it's not working. "He's radioactive," said one exec. An ally of Brownie in the PR world said he should have waited a month before starting his job hunt. "It's just a bad play."
Less than a week after FEMA's dismal Hurricane Katrina response forced Brown out of the agency, he has been shopping his resume to headhunters and Washington PR firms. And it's not working. "He's radioactive," said one exec. An ally of Brownie in the PR world said he should have waited a month before starting his job hunt. "It's just a bad play."
posted by Management at 6:03 PM
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• Sept. 26, 2005 | 6:00 p.m. EDT
Whither Michael Brown? (Mike Viqueira, Capitol Hill Producer)
It turns out that former FEMA director Michael Brown is being retained by the agency as a "consultant."
Brown was on the Hill today to speak with staff at a special House committee in preparation for his testimony at a Tuesday hearing on Katrina. In the session, Brown said that he was working as a consultant "to provide a review" of Katrina preparations and immediate aftermath, according to two congressional sources.
It is unclear what, if anything, he is being paid. "I would assume he is being paid, yes," an aide close to the committee said on background. But no one at the briefing asked that question of Brown.
Brown Tells Congressional Aides He Should Have Sought Military Help Sooner
Skip directly to the full story.
By Lara Jakes Jordan Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 26, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former FEMA director Michael Brown said Monday he should have sought faster help from the Pentagon after Hurricane Katrina hit, and blamed state and local officials for failing to order an immediate evacuation of New Orleans, congressional aides of both parties said.
Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks, said Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke.
During that time, Brown will advise the department on "some of his views on his experience with Katrina," as he transitions out of his job, Knocke said.
Brown spoke to congressional aides from both parties a day before he is expected to testify in front of a special House committee investigating the government's response to the Aug. 29 disaster.
Brown came to symbolize the halting federal efforts to rescue victims of the storm and flooding that followed in which more than 1,000 people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff removed Brown from his on-site role overseeing the disaster response on Sept. 9. Brown announced his resignation from FEMA three days later.
AP-ES-09-26-05 1919EDT
CBS News says Michael Brown rehired as FEMA consultant
09/26/2005 @ 6:53 pm
Michael Brown
Click here for CBS video clip
CBS News' Bob Schieffer just announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has rehired ex-FEMA chief Michael Brown-- as a consultant to evaluate the agency's response to the disaster!
From CBS's Katrina blog: "Sept. 26, 2005 /6:44 p.m. (CBS) — CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's [sic] response following Hurricane Katrina."
CBS says they've confirmed Brown had been rehired. Brown resigned after taking heat when a Time Magazine article revealed that he had padded his resume with bogus jobs.
The Associated Press, however, tells the story differently: "Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks, said Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke."
Brown had been shopping his resume in Washington. Wrote U.S. News' Washington Whispers last week: "Ex-FEMA Administrator Michael Brown seems to be doing for his career what he did for the beleaguered agency. Less than a week after FEMA's dismal Hurricane Katrina response forced Brown out of the agency, he has been shopping his resume to headhunters and Washington PR firms. And it's not working. "He's radioactive," said one exec. An ally of Brownie in the PR world said he should have waited a month before starting his job hunt. "It's just a bad play."
DEVELOPING....
What became obvious in Brown's statements immediately after he was demoted and then he was fired when he resigned is that he was a little bit bitter. He hadn't yet gone completely off reservation, but he was not completely happy about being the fall guy, either.
What we have here, then, is hush money. Brown is being kept in the crony-fold in order to make it less likely that he gives a damning-beyond-repair expose to Newsweek or some such as revenge.
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