Brown May Testify on White House, Katrina

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON - Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

Brown's stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, follows senators' complaints that the White House is refusing to answer questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the Aug. 29 storm.

Brown quit as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency days after Katrina struck. He left the federal payroll Nov. 2.

In a Feb. 6 letter to White House counsel Harriet Miers, Brown's lawyer wrote that Brown continues to respect Bush and his "presidential prerogative" to get candid and confidential advice from top aides.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060209/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_congres

[Greeby]

1. Uh-oh

Not such a heckuva job after all, eh Brownie?

[greekspeak]

10. Yuck...I cannot think of this Brownie monicker w/o thinking of Mr. Hanky

The Christmas Poo. Well besides the name, they both sort of shit on everyone with whom they come in contact.

[0007]

17. Like Mr. Hanky sez, we all just gotta come out some how, no

matter how stinky and offensive. Brown has learned to play three card monte which shit all over the selective card.

What is this a fucking joke, or something?

[MADem]

27. Oh, hell, they won't make him take an OATH to tell the truth

That's out of fashion--ask Stevens and Specter!!!

So the Heckuva fucker can just lie all he wants, without consequence.

It is the GOP way.

[Demeter]

2. Hostile, UnCooperative Witness

Not sure what good his word will be, unless they want to convict him of stupidity and incompetence.

[superconnected]

3. I could see him pointing the finger and blaming them

He blames everyone, instead of taking responsibilty himself.

[Canuckistanian]

4. He wasn't an "aide" during Katrina

He was the head of a whole agency of the Administration. He had executive powers in that agency.

Grill him till he turns red.

[GoldenOldie]

5. Will he do it under Oath???

Gonzales knew he could say whatever he wanted because the good yes boys said he didn't have to take the Oath to testify..................which meant he could lie his ass off with out repercussions.

[Canuckistanian]

8. No way, these guys can't touch a Bible

I think one of them tried once and yelled "it burns, it burns!"

[applegrove]

6. He's already lied.

[Spinzonner]

7. Don't take any private planes, Brownie

[Thor_MN]

9. What? This is insanity!!! If the hurricanes find out how we work against

them, the will be able to evade our plans!!! This must be classified and done in secret!!! Open discussions can only aid and abet the hurricanes!!!

:sarcasm:

[complain jane]

44. Yeah shut up- you're giving comfort and support to the hurricanes.

[DeltaLady]

11. "Sorry, the page you requested has not been found"

was the response I received to multiple attempts to access this story. Methinks it suspicious to say the least. Recall Rove's request for "martial law or as close as you can get." Do you suppose this attempted cover-up has something to do with that? Do you think that possibly the MSM slipped up in not asking why Rove seemed to think martial law was necessary? Kathleen Blanco may have some knowledge on this; if you recall, federal action was delayed as she and Bush went round and round. People have blamed her for delays in rescue opperations, but I disagree. Martial Law would have meant a much greater loss of life, it would have put the military "in charge" instead of the state. Maybe Brownie knows something about this too...no telling, but this New Orleanian would sure like to know!

[npincus]

12. LINK to story on CNN.com:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/02/09/fema.brown.ap/

[UpInArms]

15. CNN link here

Ex-FEMA chief: I may tell all about Katrina

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

Brown's stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, follows senators' complaints that the White House is refusing to answer questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the August 29 storm.

Brown quit as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency days after Katrina struck. He left the federal payroll November 2.

In a February 6 letter to White House counsel Harriet Miers, Brown's lawyer wrote that Brown continues to respect Bush and his "presidential prerogative" to get candid and confidential advice from top aides.

The letter from Andrew W. Lester also says Brown no longer can rely on being included in that protection because he is a private citizen.

"Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications," the lawyer wrote.

...more...

[Maeve]

25. Subheading--Michael Brown asks White House if they want him to stay quiet

Hasn't been on the Fed payroll since Nov 2 and baby needs a new pair of shoes...

[Roland99]

13. Extorting the White House? Um, Brownie? Avoid small aircraft.

[NashVegas]

16. What a Prick!

Did Rove dream up this strategy? Blackmailing the White House is likely to drum up support for *, at least in some quarters.

[gauguin57]

14. Brownie will sing like a canary if it'll save his own ass ...

... or start repairing his reputation. Sing. Like a. Canary. Brownie impresses me as a guy who would sell his mother to save his own ass. He would have no problem selling out the Bushies!

See, when you fill an administration with snakes, you can never be sure one of them won't turn on ya' ... let that be a lesson to you, Mister Bush.

[Javaman]

18. He's the original Frank Burns. n/t

[gauguin57]

26. Ferret Face! Bwaaahaaa!

OMG ... he IS Frank Burns. WEASEL!

[Hissyspit]

19. AP: Ex-FEMA Chief - 'I may tell All About Katrina'

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0209-10.htm

Published on Thursday, February 9, 2006 by the Associated Press
Ex-FEMA Chief: I May Tell All about Katrina
Michael Brown asks White House if they want him to stay quiet

WASHINGTON - Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support.

Brown's stance, in a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, follows senators' complaints that the White House is refusing to answer questions or release documents about advice given to Bush concerning the August 29 storm.

- snip -

"Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications," the lawyer wrote.

Brown's desire "is that all facts be made public."

MORE

[MadMaddie]

20. So if the Bush administration doesn't pay his legal fees

He's going to tell all.....Isn't that blackmail? or is it extortion?

[bklyncowgirl]

32. Prediction: they'll get some third party to pay off Brownie.

Brownie will then fall on his sword for Shrub. They'll nail his ass later--stay out of small planes, Brownie.

[dflprincess]

34. I think blackmail and extortion are the same

Blackmail is more the slang term and extortion is what is used legally. Now that this has gone public, maybe the prosecutor will cut a deal with him, tell all about Katrina and you won't be charged with extortion. I mean, the guy has pretty much announced to the world there's something to tell, so how can he shut up now?

Would it be too morbid to start a pool about when he'll be suicided?

[harlinchi]

21. I posted about this here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2448111

No get out of jail free cards for Mr. Brown!

[HereSince1628]

22. Brown announces plan to blackmail, more GOP culture of corruption

The GOP is truly sick.

[Atman]

23. His conscience is obviously for sale.

And he knows who has the deep pockets.

This man is fucking joke. His new consulting biz must not be doing so well if he's already trying to extort BushCo.

[complain jane]

46. As was the FEMA head position to begin with, apparently, when * filled it

with this douche.

[cliss]

47. Exactly my thought!

Brownie must not be getting too many clients. As we all know, Brown-out opened up a consulting business in Boulder Colorado. Doing what you ask? Disaster management, of course! Why, no one on earth would know more about disasters right Michael?

I think Brown-nose must be short on dough since he's out on an Extortion spree. Well those Nordstrom shirts can be kinda spendy. He's got a whole closet full I hear. Good luck to ya buddy and always watch your back.

[Tin Man]

24. Brown better refrain from flying in small aircraft... n/t

[MadMaddie]

28. So if the Bush administration doesn't pay his legal fees

Isn't that considered blackmail or extortion?:shrug:

Ooops posted same thing twice...

[DiverDave]

29. Yes, come clean, you freaking murderer

Like anybody would believe YOU.

This is another one of KKKarls schemes, sow some more lies, obscure EVERYTHING with a wall of bullshit so big that a backhoe couldn't get through.

Where is the independent prosecutor that NEEDS to be appointed to get the truth?

Yeah, right...in my dreams, I guess.

[Anita Garcia]

30. Now??? He's ready to reveal? What a joke! n/t

[complain jane]

45. Why the surprise? He's a smarmy, whiny, spineless POS

[havocmom]

31. Is Randi Rhodes archived? In and out of room, missed name of Brownie pal

who started a shell company that got FEMA contracts. From what I caught, Brownie has some damaging tales to tell. Hope he is tucked away safe between now and show-time!

Randi is HOT about the shit that went down in FEMA- cronies, checks in FL for doubtful damage amounts, but BEFORE election, shell companies siphoning FEMA $$ so there is nothing to do any real work with.

Gotta find archives for people to hear all this. Plus, I gotta take notes, the woman is a whirlwind, I can't keep up with the stuff she is exposing.

Brown is extorting the junta BIG TIME.

[orleans]

38. i missed three hours of her today too. here are links for archives

white rose archives a lot of shows; here is the front page, then the link to randi's show & finally her illegal archives that cuts commercials. (i just checked and only the first half of the show is up from today)


http://www.whiterosesociety.org/

http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Rhodes.html

http://www.geocities.com/randirhodesarchives/

on edit: i love randi too.

[White House watchdog]

33. White House cronyism and patronage gone awry

“George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA ... resigned yesterday, agency officials said. Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted. Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job ... in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. ... A copy of Mr. Deutsch's résumé was provided to The Times by someone working in NASA headquarters who, along with many other NASA employees, said Mr. Deutsch played a ... significant role in an intensifying effort at the agency to exert political control over the flow of information to the public.” New York Times (Feb. 8, 2006). “IT IS A RARE thing for the biography of a 24-year-old NASA spokesman to attract the attention of the national media. But that is what happened this week when George C. Deutsch tendered his resignation. Mr. Deutsch had, it emerged, lied about his (nonexistent) undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. ... The spectacle of a young political appointee with no college degree exerting crude political control over senior government scientists and civil servants with many decades of experience is deeply disturbing.” The Washington Post (Feb. 9, 2006).

In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton predicted that the President "would be both ashamed and afraid" to nominate cronies, or, as Hamilton called them, "obsequious instruments of his pleasure." Hamilton wrote that the Senate confirmation requirement for some appointments “would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from state prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity would be an efficacious source of stability in the administration.” Elliot Richardson (former Attorney General, Defense Secretary, Commerce Secretary, and HEW Secretary) wrote in The Wall Street Journal: “Compounding all these negative influences the decline in quality of second- and third-echelon political appointees. … There has been a drop, meanwhile, in the experience level of political appointees with respect both to government generally and to their agency's field of responsibility. … he consequence is to place minimally qualified individuals in highly important posts. … White House personnel assistant sees the position of deputy assistant secretary as a fourth-echelon slot. In his eyes that makes it an ideal reward for a fourth-echelon political type -- a campaign advance man, or a regional political organizer.” 145 Cong. Rec. S554-01 (Jan. 19, 1999).

Every President’s Office of Presidential Personnel (OPP) weathers scandals emanating from its cronyism excesses and the current Administration is no exception. During President Clinton’s tenure, there was the media scrutiny of the White House OPP’s selection of Kathleen Willey for multiple positions including a Presidential appointment (A former flight attendant, Ms. Willey was appointed to a full-time position for ten months in the White House Counsel’s Office, then appointed to serve on U.S. State Department delegations to conferences on social development in Copenhagen and biodiversity in Jakarta, and finally appointed to the Board of Governors of the USO.) And who could forget the President’s direction of Vernon Jordan to lobby then-UN Ambassador Bill Richardson to find or create a federal job for Monica Lewinsky? The recently released report of Independent Counsel David Barrett revealed that Clinton cronies at the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service interfered with the prosecution of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros for income tax evasion. But it is for good reason that the current OPP’s insatiable appetite for patronage and addition to cronyism has dominated media coverage of late.

• The President nominated his personal lawyer for a vacancy on the Supreme Court saying, “She was the most qualified person I could find.”
• Columnist Bob Novak wrote, “At the same time Harriet Miers was twisting in the wind, Bush created a parallel situation at the Export-Import Bank that is the talk of the bureaucracy and Capitol Hill. The three-year term as the bank's CEO for Philip Merrill, an experienced government official and businessman, expired Jan. 20 and was extended six months to July 20. The post has been vacant since then because Bush's choice, April Foley, has had difficulties getting through the clearance process and has yet to be formally nominated. Foley is a former Ex-Im director, but her resume shows no executive experience, either corporate or governmental. Her last available campaign contribution disclosure form, in 2002, lists her as ‘housewife.’ But she was one of Bush's girlfriends when they both attended Harvard Business School. …. Members of Congress are upset that the Export-Import Bank has been without a chairman for three months because President Bush's choice is another friend who is being investigated by the Justice Department. … Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, chairman of the Banking Committee's subcommittee on financial institutions and a strong Ex-Im booster, has made it clear that the bank needs a permanent chairman, even if that means the president has to set aside his first choice predilection for pulling surprises and naming old friends.”
• The October 2005 nomination of the President’s media consultant, Mark McKinnon (called “M-Cat” by the President), to one of the four Democrat seats on the bi-partisan Broadcasting Board of Governors was promptly withdrawn after Senators Reid and Biden cried foul. Mr. McKinnon’s company, Maverick Media, was paid 15% of $177 million in fees from the President’s reelection campaign and the RNC.
• The OPP selected and the President recently nominated 35-year-old Israel Hernandez to be Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (the incumbent manages more than 1,800 Department of Commerce employees serving in more than 80 countries). The principal qualification of Hernandez, whom the President calls “Altoid Boy,” is his service as the President’s travel aide who always had an Altoid breath mint at the ready on the campaign trail.
• “Public Broadcasting Ex-Chief Targeted in Report -- The former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting appeared to have been motivated by politics in recruiting a new board president, the corporation's inspectors reported on Tuesday. Their report into the activities of Kenneth Tomlinson said ‘cryptic’ e-mails between Tomlinson and the White House indicated by their timing and subject matter that Tomlinson ‘was strongly motivated by political considerations in filling the president/CEO position.’ A former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Patricia Harrison, was named to the post. ...The inspectors' report was prompted by media reports that Tomlinson and the board were making personnel decisions based on political ideology.” (Reuters, Nov. 15, 2005).
• After receiving complaints that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel subordinated its personnel decisionmaking to political considerations, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Collins convened hearings and shamed the White House into making a November 2005 announcement that it has ordered the OPM Inspector General to launch an investigation.
• The list of characters selected or endorsed by the OPP who have been indicted and/or convicted is growing. (Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President Scooter Libby resigned in October 2005 after being indicted for obstruction of justice and perjury; DOT White House Liaison Richard Juliano resigned before pleading guilty to felony mail fraud; the demonstrably under-qualified GSA Chief of Staff and OMB Procurement Chief, David Safavian, resigned in October 2005 after being arrested by the FBI on the eve of his felony indictments; Federal Housing Finance Board Chairman John Korsmo resigned before his felony conviction in 2005).
• When the OPP selected former Arabian Horse Association President Michael Brown to become FEMA Director, former Bush-Cheney Campaign Manager and outgoing FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh declared that “the President couldn't have chosen a better man to help prepare and protect the nation."
• In September 2005, The Seattle Times reported that, just before he was appointed to his post as Region Ten FEMA Director, former Bush-Cheney Campaign Aide John Pennington received his bachelor's degree from an unaccredited California correspondence school that federal investigators later described as a "diploma mill."
• The Acting FEMA Deputy Director, 36-year-old Patrick Rhode, was appointed to his current post based on his work as the deputy director of advance operations for the President’s campaign and said that FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina was "one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."
• After serving as a junior press aide, Claire Buchan was recently appointed as the Chief of Staff at the Commerce Department, where she now oversees a $6.3 billion budget and some 38,000 employees. According to the media, “Some of Buchan's erstwhile colleagues in the White House press corps were left speechless when her new assignment was announced in February <2005>. One White House reporter who worked closely with Buchan for five years called her ‘the most useless in a Bush universe of enforced uselessness. She took empty banality to a new low.’”
• The OPP did not catch the discrepancies in the resume of HHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Health Cristina Beato have stalled her confirmation for over two years now. Beato said she earned a master's of public health in occupational medicine from the University of Wisconsin, but the university doesn't even offer that degree.
• The President’s nomination of Timothy Flanigan for Deputy Attorney General had to be withdrawn in October 2005 as a result of his ties to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
• Miss Julie Myers, the 36-year-old niece of Gen. Myers and former OPP employee, had to be given a recent recess appointment to the post of DHS-ICE Assistant Secretary (responsible for 20,000 employees and a $4 billion budget) after columnist Michelle Malkin called it “a disastrous crony appointment” and numerous Republicans including Sen. Voinovich declared her “not qualified.”
• Albeit not an appointment, the White House issued press credentials to a faux journalist and homosexual prostitute (Jim Guckert, a.k.a. Jeff Gannon) and the Department of Education provided a quarter million dollar contract for talk show host Armstrong Williams (declared illegal by GAO and referred to the U.S. Attorney by the Inspector General in October 2005).
• Republican Senators and Congressmen recently succeeded in their public calls on the White House to either nominate the DHS CFO, Andrew Maner (a former White House press assistant with a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications), for Senate confirmation or replace him. On November 7, 2005, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) told The Washington Post, “It is crucial the CFO be subject to the Senate’s confirmation process to ensure that person is fully qualified.” The White House was in apparent violation of a law passed in 2004 that required Maner to be confirmed or replaced as of April, 2005. House Government Reform Subcommittee Chairman Platts (R-PA) said, “It is long past time that the department abide by the law.” “’He doesn’t have the kind of background one would hope a CFO at a $40 billion government entity would have,’ said a senior Republican congressional aide.”

[Blue_Tires]

35. great info, and welcome to the site!

[cliss]

48. Very nice post,

White House Watchdog! Welcome to the DU :toast:

Keep those posts coming. Some of us are news junkies, and we appreciate the good stuff. :smoke:

[HuffleClaw]

36. "...unless the White House forbids it and offers legal support."

ooooookay. so he's basically calling for big daddy bush to cover his ass?

[MagickMuffin]

37. Unholy Trinity: Katrina, Allbaugh and Brown

Check out the link below to learn more about how and why Brownie was elevated to head FEMA. The article is very long and detailed (8 pages) about how Joe Allbaugh and Brownie became friends, and how they both used people to steal money from on the conditions they would repay them, although they never did.
Also goes into great detail about Brownie's job at the Horse Assoc. and his going after a horse trainer who the GOP didn't like.

David Boggs (who did not respond to interview requests) was, by most accounts, a talented and dedicated trainer whose successes on the circuit were well deserved. But according to Hart and others, he was envied and even hated by several extremely rich Arabian Horse owners—owners who happened to also be very large Republican donors, including the late Bob Magness, a founder of the TCI cable giant; David Murdock, the Dole food company billionaire; and the late Alec Courtelis, a Florida developer.

Courtelis had been one of George H.W. Bush’s major fundraisers, and the elder Bush was a frequent guest at Courtelis’s horse farm during his presidency. At an April 1990 fundraising dinner in Florida, Bush introduced Courtelis with the words “Here’s a man who breeds race horses for the same reason he works so hard for the party: only one place will do for Alec—first place.” Page2
http://realnews.org/rn/content/index1e49.html?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&itemid=9

Please read the entire article to learn more on this story.

[PA Democrat]

40. Just finished reading this article- I am sickened by the

depths of corruption. You should post this as a separate thread. People have to read this article.

I was shocked to read that Joe Allbaugh had filed for bankruptcy and had been the subject of numerous lawsuits for unpaid debts. I could not have gotten a job at the bank I worked for with Allbaugh's past, let alone be confirmed to run FEMA. Don't we do simple credit checks on people who are in charge of billions of our tax dollars? Unbelievable.

Brown approached a wealthy horse owner and asked for and received $50,000 to pay for his legal defense when another owner/ trainer sued him. The problem was that the Arabian horse association Brown worked for was already paying Brown's legal fees. The guy is a crook. He was fired when this was discovered.

Allbaugh and Brownie both LIED during their Senate conformation hearings when they both failed to reveal their shady pasts. Why isn't this front page news?

[MagickMuffin]

41. I felt the same way as you did,

and was also alarmed that their is obviously no credit checks run on these people being confirmed to run our government? :shrug:
All of these thugs don't have a sense of what integrity is all about. Ripping off little old ladies, leaving them with little money to finish out the last of their years on this planet. What a bunch of A**Holes!!!!!

My sister went to work for the Bass Family, (in case you aren't familiar they are multi-millionaires and big Bush supporters) before she even got the job they ran a credit history on her. When she told me that, I had a WTF moment. I thought why would she have to submit to an invasion of her privacy, just for the opportunity to have a job. She wasn't handling money, the position was in accounting, but again no handling of money. I told her I wouldn't have wanted to work at a place like that, I mean once they have that kind of info on you, what else are have doing "without" your knowledge? :eyes:

Where do you suggest I start another thread, GD or GDP?

[54anickel]

42. That's pretty standard for any job app these days. Really pisses me

of and I have written so damned many letters on this it's rediculous. Gotta give your SS# so they can do a credit check for just about anything these days - job application, phone service, gas or electric service. Wanna do a credit check? Fine, do it the old fashion way...Supposedly there's some rule where they cannot demand your SS# unless they will be making taxable payments TO you, but it's not enforceable the way it's written...they aren't demanding it, you just have to shop elsewhere for services or an freakin' job! Pet peeve of mine.

[banana republican]

39. UHH ARE THEY SPENDING TAXPAYER MONEY ON THIS???? N/T

[baldguy]

43. New on Yahoo:

Ex-FEMA Chief Shifts Katrina Blame to DHS

WASHINGTON - Former federal disaster chief Michael Brown testified Friday he notified top White House and Homeland Security officials on the day Hurricane Katrina roared ashore that "we were realizing our worst nightmare" and New Orleans was seriously flooding.

He dismissed as "just baloney" and "a little disingenuous" claims by agency officials that they didn't know about the severity of the damage until the next day.

Testifying before a Senate committee, Brown said he agreed with members who characterized him as a scapegoat. "I feel somewhat abandoned," said Brown, who quit under fire as chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency just days after the storm ravaged much of the Gulf Coast of the United States.

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_go_co/katrina_congress;_ylt=AmgUkvMqlPz9RzI4sL8k1Tes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

poor, poor Brownie! He didn't know how bad it would be until people were actually dying!

Of course, the rest of the world knew it would be catastrophic days before the Administration"experts".