Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

seafan

(9,387 posts)
Wed Aug 26, 2015, 05:06 PM Aug 2015

Jeb Bush and *Hurricane Leadership* is another dose of clotted right wing pabulum.

Heck of a job, Jeb: Bush features official behind botched Katrina response in ‘hurricane’ ad


That's "Heckuva Job Brownie", of Hurricane Katrina fame, on The Entitled One's left. (via Raw Story)

(Michael) Brown would later become the face of the federal government's perceived inability to adequately respond to the massive hurricane that killed more than 1,800 people.

It was later revealed that Brown wrote an email the morning of the hurricane asking a colleague, "Can I quit now?"

Soon after the disaster struck, Brown was immortalized as the subject of George W. Bush's praise when the president said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

The Bush campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Wonder if Jeb has recruited Michael Brown yet, for his "prezidentin' team", a reunion of miscreants, thieves and war criminals.


Speaking of hurricanes, Jeb! was in charge when this happened:

Audit scolds FEMA over payments, (2004's hurricane season in Florida)

Miami-Dade County residents collected Hurricane Frances aid for belongings they didn't own, temporary housing they never requested and cars worth far less than the government paid, according to a federal audit that questions millions in storm payouts.
The review found waste and poor controls in every level of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's assistance program and challenges the designation of Miami-Dade as a disaster area when the county "did not incur any hurricane force winds, tornados or other adverse weather conditions that would cause widespread damage."


As a result of the declaration, "millions of individuals and households became eligible to apply for , straining FEMA's limited inspection resources to verify damages and making the program more susceptible to potential fraud, waste and abuse," the report states.
Though the study was confined to Miami-Dade County, it concludes that the agency's problematic practices "cast doubt about the appropriateness" of awards elsewhere in the state, "particularly those counties that had only marginal damage."

Conducted by the Inspector General's Office of the Department of Homeland Security, the audit shows that in Miami-Dade FEMA distributed:

$8.2 million in rental assistance to 4,308 applicants in the county who "did not indicate a need for shelter" when they registered for help. In 60 cases reviewed by auditors, inspectors deemed homes unsafe without explanation, and applicants never moved out.

$720,403 to 228 people for belongings based on their word alone.

$192,592 for generators, air purifiers, wet/dry vacuum cleaners, chainsaws and other items without proof that they were needed to deal with the hurricane. Three applicants got generators for their homes, plus rental assistance from FEMA to live somewhere else.

$15,743 for three funerals without sufficient documentation that the deaths were due to the hurricane.

$46,464 to 64 residents for temporary housing even though they had homeowners insurance. FEMA funds cannot be used when costs are covered by insurance.

$17,424 in rental assistance to 24 people who reported that their homes were not damaged.

$97,500 for 15 automobiles with a "blue book" value of $56,140. In general, the report states that FEMA approved claims for damaged vehicles without properly verifying that the losses were caused by the storm.

The 60-page report, obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Friday, confirms a number of the findings in an ongoing investigation by the newspaper into FEMA's disaster aid program. The newspaper first reported in October that FEM was awarding millions of dollars to Miami-Dade residents even though the Labor Day weekend storm made landfall more than 100 miles to the north and local officials knew of no serious damage.

The paper found that FEM paid for thousands of televisions, appliances and rooms full of furniture in Miami-Dade and that the agency covered the expenses of 315 funerals statewide, even though Florida's medical examiners attributed only 123 deaths to the four hurricanes.

Michael D. Brown, FEMA's director, said Friday that although some fraud and abuse is evident in all disasters he was pleased with the audit's findings of "nothing widespread."

.....

The scope of the audit was limited to whether FEMA had enough evidence to declare Miami-Dade a disaster area and whether the agency had the proper controls in place to ensure that money only went to eligible applicants and for verified expenses. "Our review ... disclosed shortcomings in both areas," the report states.



But hey, there was a presidential election just a couple of months later! Jeb, just helping out brother George W. again, after doing his best for him in 2000.

And Jeb was in charge when this happened:

Jeb Bush secured highly inflated FEMA contracts for Carnival Cruise ships to house Katrina victims. (2005)

Somebody or somebodies made out like bandits in these deals. We can guess who.


So, to recap the connections in these Carnival Cruise deals that Gov. Jeb Bush facilitated after Katrina:

John McCain--->Vicki Iseman, lobbyist---Alcalde & Fay lobbying firm-->Iseman's client Carnival Corporation-->Micky Arison, CEO of Carnival-->recipient of $236 Million FEMA Katrina contracts-->Jeb Bush, facilitator of FEMA contracts and recipient of Hector Alcalde's largess.

So, Jeb Bush used his influence as Florida Governor to secure inflated FEMA contracts for Carnival Corporation, a client of Alcalde and Fay. And magically, Hector Alcalde is a large benefactor for Jeb Bush.

You see, Jeb performs the lobbying, the influence peddling AND gets the payoff.




Notice how it ALWAYS works out grandly for the Bush Family.



The "hurricane leader" is another flimsy cloak that King Jeb wraps around himself, but we can see right through it.




3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Jeb Bush and *Hurricane Leadership* is another dose of clotted right wing pabulum. (Original Post) seafan Aug 2015 OP
Jeb is recycling W's old wars and failed policies and also recycling W's failed advisors Gothmog Aug 2015 #1
Hurricane photo-ops are not the same thing as hurricane leadership, Jebbie. tanyev Aug 2015 #2
Jeb Bush pal at Carnival Cruise got $236 million gov't contract to house Katrina workers seafan Aug 2015 #3

seafan

(9,387 posts)
3. Jeb Bush pal at Carnival Cruise got $236 million gov't contract to house Katrina workers
Thu Aug 27, 2015, 04:16 PM
Aug 2015

NO mention of offering the ships to house victims from the general population in Katrina's 2005 aftermath. None.


The Decider wanted to steer some $$$ to grease little bro Decider and his pals.


FEMA cruise ship contracts defended, October 2, 2005

Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Carnival Corporation Chairman and CEO Micky Arison have defended FEMA's post-Katrina cruise ship charters.

The FEMA decision to charter cruise ships as temporary housing for hurricane victims has been the subject of Congressional questions and criticism.

On September 23, Rep. Henry Waxman (D.-Calif), Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Government Reform, wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertfoff saying he was "concerned about the costs of the contract" with Carnival.

Combined, the three Carnival ships chartered by FEMA at a reported cost of $192 million, with an additional reimbursement of expenses of up to $44 million, can accommodate 7,116 passengers.

"Many of the berths are going unfilled, which could make the cost per person extraordinarily high," wrote Waxman. "Even if all the berths were filled, the cost for a family of five appears to exceed $20,000 per month. "This would appear to be far more than other options, such as providing community-based housing."

Waxman asked Chertoff to provide copies of the contracts, requests for proposals and other documentation.

On September 27, U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) piled on.

The two senators are sponsoring legislation that would create a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to oversee all expenditures associated with the Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction effort.

In a joint statement they said that "the Senate Federal Financial Management Subcommittee's investigation into a six-month $192 million FEMA contract with Carnival Cruise Lines has discovered that taxpayers are paying, per evacuee, four times the amount a vacation cruise passenger would have to pay. Three Carnival ships are only half full and mostly occupied by relief workers. Carnival's overhead costs in the FEMA operation are far lower than during normal cruises. The Carnival ships are docked. No fuel is being used and no entertainment is being provided to the relief workers. Yet, taxpayers are paying $2,550 per guest per week, which is four times the cost of a $599 per person '7 Day Western Caribbean' Cruise from Galveston."

"When the federal government would actually save millions of dollars by forgoing the status quo and actually sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight. A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line," Obama and Coburn said.

The FEMA contract has, however, found a defender in Florida Governor Jeb Bush.


Speaking to travel agents at an event in Fort Lauderdale he said critics who have labeled the Carnival contract a "sweetheart deal" are wrong, and that the charge could inhibit companies in Florida from stepping forward in the future if a similar hurricane situation develops there.

"There's some senators and politicians up there in Washington criticizing this and I think it's wrong," the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reports Bush as saying.

The the deal was done during a crisis," said the Governor. "There was total chaos. Entire communities were wiped out. (Carnival) responded as a good corporate citizen and I think they're being criticized unfairly."

The Sun-Sentinel also reports Carnival Chairman Micky Arison as saying there are 1,000 New Orleans police officers using two Carnival ships now located in New Orleans. He said reports they were empty are untrue, and that about 50 cabins are vacant on one ship and 100 on the other.
"Before those ships arrived, these guys had lost their homes. They were trying to police New Orleans without water, without food and without a roof over their heads," the Sun-Sentinel quotes Arison as saying.

The newspaper quotes Arison as saying the contract price was settled on to assure Carnival would break even when it refunded cruises for passengers who had to be displaced from the ships.

"The government felt the need was great and what we asked for was to be kept whole," he said.



Yeah, they kept the 'whole' thing.


From USA Today, September 30, 2005:


FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) — Carnival Corp. CEO Micky Arison defended his company's $236 million contract with the federal government to use cruise ships to house hurricane victims, denying reports Friday that the vessels were mostly empty.

U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., called it a "sweetheart" deal in a letter Thursday asking Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to explain the contract with the Miami-based company.

The senators alleged the contract guaranteed the Carnival Cruise Lines brand rates that were much higher than market levels. The company has said it doesn't expect to make a profit on the deal.

"What we asked for was to be kept whole basically. And to make up for the revenue that we would have made had the ships been operated. And to pay for the expense of canceling 100,000 people and protecting travel agent commissions," Arison said at a cruise industry convention.

The Sensation and Ecstasy have been used to house emergency workers in New Orleans. Each ship can hold 2,052 people, and Arison said one had only 50 empty cabins and another had 150 vacancies. He said 1,000 evacuees were in Mobile, Ala., on the Holiday, which can hold 1,452 people.

The senators also asked Chertoff to explain why the U.S. didn't accept Greece's offer to send two ships for free. Gov. Jeb Bush said those ships wouldn't have arrived until Oct. 10.


(.. The October 10 date is a joke. It's because Bush pal CEO Micky Arison at Carnival wouldn't have gotten that sweet federal contract money. It's really very simple.)

Bush said the contract might be an example of government waste, "but don't blame Carnival Cruise Lines for canceling cruise ships with 100,000 customers. That's their business."



Even Baby Doc Bush admitted it was an 'example of government waste'. But it was a treasure for his friends at Carnival. Smirk, wink.


What was quite telling about this sweet deal with Carnival is that there was NO MENTION of housing victims from the general population. Instead, it mostly catered to 'emergency workers', read, 'lots of private contractors', perhaps?



"No good deed goes unpunished," Bush said at the (cruise industry) convention.



NO, Jeb Bush. You have it backward. For YOU, no bad deed goes punished.

Yet.










Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Jeb Bush and *Hurricane L...