Brown-Paid To Aid Investigation-Katrina Response-Now Refuses To Cooperate

[kpete]

Brown Was Paid To Aid Investigation Of Katrina Response, Now Refuses To Cooperate

For nearly 2 months after Mike Brown was forced to resign from FEMA for his incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina, he continued to collect his full $148,000 salary as a “consultant.” Why was Brown retained? According to a FEMA spokeswoman, it was so he could fully cooperate with the investigations into what went wrong:


FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews confirmed that Brown is still on FEMA’s payroll as a consultant. She said he works from home, where he is “pulling all the documentation together” to aid in the investigations into the government’s response to Katrina.



Now that Brown has cashed his checks, he is refusing to cooperate with the Senate investigation:



While FEMA has been helpful, Mike Brown — the former FEMA director who resigned amid intense criticism of his agency’s response — has refused to answer even the simplest questions, Lieberman added.



Brown continues to talk about the issue, but only for a fee. He recently keynoted a storm response conference and provided “insight and perspective on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” Senators investigating the issue could have attended for the low price of $375.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/25/brown-refuses-to-cooperate/

[tanyev]

1. How to get rich off of tragedy.

Greedy Opportunistic Party.

[jimshoes]

2. Will any of these thieves

and charlatans ever be held accountable? Their contempt of the rule of law is unbounded. They say "Go fuck yourself" and then we say, oh, OK. Find a judge that will arrest these pigs.

[AzDar]

3. Jeebus on a trailer hitch..is the Senate no longer allowed to subpoena??

Haul that tax-payer-dollar-collecting, incompetent,stonewalling, MURDEROUS asshole in!! MAKE him answer questions,or plead the Fifth (which would be telling in and of itself).
Goddamn! Sorry about the language, but this pisses me off something FIERCE!!!

[jarab]

6. Agree. Never ask. Always subpoena.

Put 'em in contempt - for the record.
...O...

[rodeodance]

4. I would the media/others would be outraged by this--damn

[rodeodance]

5. the WH has invoked 'privileged communication"-used for Cheney and

the Energy bill scandle also.

[rodeodance]

9. and Lieberman said WH is stalling

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/01/24/katrina.levees/

Lieberman, who recently has become a White House ally on many issues, said the committee has been unable to answer either of those questions because "the White House has produced just a very small portion of the documents we requested."

"They have opposed efforts to interview their personnel, and they have hindered our ability to obtain information from other federal agencies regarding White House actions in response to Katrina," the senator said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that he would not provide "a play-by-play analysis" until a White House review of the Katrina response was complete. The review, which is being led by the president's homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, should be finished soon, McClellan said.

However, McClellan denied allegations that the White House ignored warnings about Katrina and said Bush's statement about the levees was referring to initial media reports that New Orleans had been spared the worst.....

[Child_Of_Isis]

7. $148,000 salary

so he could fully cooperate with the investigations ????????


This is so wrong...on so many levels.

[TlalocW]

8. Oh-oh... Lieberman's on the case

Michael Brown, you'd better watch out! You might be maliciously brown-nosed.

TlalocW

[Vidar]

10. 8000 counts of negligent homicide would be just recompense.