[StBernard] Parish Will Not Meet With Former FEMA Director

[Westley Annis]

Parish Will Not Meet With Former FEMA Director 

April 12 , 2006

By: Steve Cannizaro


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President Rodriguez says St. Bernard won't meet with former FEMA head
Michael Brown 
 

St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior'' Rodriguez said Wednesday he has
decided not to pursue any discussions with former FEMA head Michael Brown
about him assisting St. Bernard at no cost in dealing with the federal
agency. 
 
The decision means Brown won't appear before a committee of the Parish
Council on Thursday. Rodriguez said he is requesting the clerk of council to
remove Brown from the meeting agenda. 
 
"I apologize to Mr. Brown for any inconvenience this may have caused him but
there is no point in wasting his time or ours in further discussions when
I'm certain I would now recommend to the Parish Council to decline his
services,'' Rodriguez said. 
 
Rodriguez said that after reviewing in detail congressional reports
concerning FEMA's inadequate planning before Hurricane Katrina and its early
response afterward, as well as a rereading of news reports concerning the
controversies of FEMA's actions under Brown, he sees no benefit to be gained
by entertaining any presentation by Brown. 
 
Brown, former director of administration for the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, last week asked to meet with and had a very informal
discussion in Washington, D.C., with Rodriguez and Council Vice-Chairman
Joseph DiFatta Jr., and members Craig Taffaro Jr. and Ricky Melerine about
whether Brown could assist the parish in dealing with FEMA. DiFatta and
Taffaro both said last week they agreed to hear Brown's presentation. 
 
Rodriguez and the council members stressed last week there was nothing
definite decided but said they hadn't foreclosed listening to Brown, who was
scheduled to come to St. Bernard Parish for the Council's executive/finance
committee meeting on Thursday, April 13. 
 
Brown has been both criticized for his actions as head of FEMA during
Katrina, although was viewed in a more favorable light months later after
the Associated Press re-released a recording of Brown and President Bush in
a video conference in which the vulnerability of the levee system was raised
with concern over potential loss of life. The President has denied any
awareness of the possibility of a levee-related catastrophe. 
. 
Brown, who was famously told by Bush shortly after Hurricane Katrina:
"Brownie you're doing a heck of a job,'' but was later reassigned in
September from his functions as coordinator of the federal efforts in New
Orleans and Gulf Coast. He quit FEMA in November 2005. 
 
In a hearing in Congress on what went wrong during Katrina, Brown
concentrated his testimony on alleging that Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New
Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin bore most if not all the blame for the failures in
the response to Katrina. 
 
But on Jan. 18, 2006, Brown recanted his earlier attempts to shift blame,
and accepted more personal responsibility for the failures of FEMA to handle
the disaster, during a speech to National Weather Service meteorologists. 
 
On March 1, the Associated Press re-released a recording of Brown and Bush
in a video conference in which the vulnerability of the levee system was
raised with concern over potential loss of life. But the President has
denied he was told of the possibility of a levee-related catastrophe. 
 
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