[StBernard] Ex-FEMA chief Brown may be hired by ravaged parish

[Westley Annis]

Ex-FEMA chief Brown may be hired by ravaged parish He would help St. Bernard
officials compete for Katrina funds


By VICTOR EPSTEIN
Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON - Michael Brown, former director of the U.S. Federal Emergency
Management Agency, is negotiating a consulting contract with St. Bernard
Parish, the area in New Orleans hardest-hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina spawned floodwaters that inundated the low-lying community between
New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico for two weeks after its Aug. 29 landfall
there. The storm claimed 129 lives and destroyed 26,000 homes in St.
Bernard.

Parish leaders expressed confidence in Brown's ability to help them compete
more effectively with large communities for federal funding and speed a
recovery they say has been mired in bureaucratic red tape.

"He's going to be the answer to the problems we've been having," Henry
"Junior" Rodriguez, president of St. Bernard Parish, said Thursday.

Brown said he could "counsel them as far as why certain things happen and
don't happen within the federal bureaucracy."

"I can help make sure they don't get overlooked," he said. "It's a very
complicated process and I can help them navigate their way through it."

Brown became a lightning rod for public dissatisfaction with the federal
government's sluggish response to Katrina. His public image was bolstered
later when it became clear he had warned higher-ups the storm would be
devastating.

Rodriguez said the Parish Council could vote on a contract with Brown as
early as next week. If a deal is approved, the community will become the
first government client to patronize Brown's new consulting business.
Brown said he plans to draw up a contract this weekend and that its value is
still undetermined.

Brown said he's been retained as a consultant by a dozen companies with
business interests in the Gulf Coast region since he resigned from FEMA on
Sept. 12. The storm claimed at least 1,460 lives in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Florida, Texas and Alabama.

Brown joined FEMA in 2001 as general counsel and moved up to deputy director
before being named director in 2003. He is precluded from lobbying his
former agency directly for another five months. He said he may, however,
advise communities such as St. Bernard about their dealings with FEMA.

"St. Bernard represents one of the big problems down there, which is that
the needs of smaller communities are getting lost in the maze of federal red
tape and placed behind those of larger communities, such as New Orleans,"
Brown said.