Now on CNN: Mike Brown's BIO is a load of crap

[glugglug]

Link to article on same topic in Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1103003,00.html

Some highlights:

Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern,"

Under the "honors and awards" section of his profile at FindLaw.com ? which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices?he lists "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University". However, Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here," says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University)

Under the heading of "Professional Associations and Memberships" on FindLaw, Brown states that from 1983 to the present he has been director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, a nursing home in Edmond. But an administrator with the Home, told TIME that Brown is "not a person that anyone here is familiar with."

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! "You're doing a great job, Brownie," indeed.

 

[conjur]

There's a ton of info re: Brown's "experience" here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=52&threadid=1680297&enterthread=y

 

[dahunan]

[republican]"Troll Thread"[/republican]

 

[Bowfinger]

That is so out of character for someone from the Bush administration. Does his resume include the phrase, "These are facts, not assertions," by chance? :roll:

 

[RightIsWrong]

It's not just Brownie that is a phony at FEMA. Take a look at a couple of other Bush friends/helpers that are helping lead the agency:

Source

Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters and now lead an agency whose ranks of seasoned crisis managers have thinned dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

FEMA's top three leaders -- Director Michael Brown, Chief of Staff Patrick Rhode and Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks Altshuler -- arrived with ties to President Bush's 2000 campaign or to the White House advance operation, according to the agency. Two other senior operational jobs are filled by a Republican former Nebraska lieutenant governor and a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official who was once a political operative.

......

But scorching criticism has been aimed at FEMA, and it starts at the top, with Brown, who has admitted to errors in responding to Hurricane Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans. The Oklahoma native, 50, was hired to the agency after a rocky tenure as commissioner of a horse sporting group by former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh, the 2000 Bush campaign manager and a college friend of Brown's.

Rhode, Brown's chief of staff, is a former television reporter who came to Washington as advance deputy director for Bush's Austin-based 2000 campaign and then the White House. He joined FEMA in April 2003 after stints at the Commerce Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Altshuler is a former presidential advance man. His predecessor, Scott Morris, was a media strategist for Bush with the Austin firm Maverick Media.

David Maurstad, who stepped down as Nebraska lieutenant governor in 2001 to join FEMA, has served as acting director for risk reduction and federal insurance administrator since June 2004. Daniel Craig, a one-time political fundraiser and campaign adviser, came to FEMA in 2001 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he directed the eastern regional office, after working as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

 

[Thump553]

Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

Who controlled the Senate on Aug. 1, 2002?

 

[Darkhawk28]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Thump553
Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

Who controlled the Senate on Aug. 1, 2002?

When did Jeffords leave the R party?

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: Thump553
Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

Who controlled the Senate on Aug. 1, 2002?

When did Jeffords leave the R party?

The Rs have had control since 1996.

Edit....was thinking of the house.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

It depends. If these guys came out of committee with 10-8 votes (GOP/Dem) then it's actually Senate Republicans that have failed in their oversight role. Nevermind, I just looked it up. Allbaugh was confirmed 91-0 and Brown was confirmed in the Democrat-led Senate by voice vote. Clearly, Congress failed in their oversight role; Republicans and Democrats alike.

Then again why would you send TWO woefully unqualified candidates in a row?

 

[conjur]

BBD, do you have a link for the vote for Brown's confirmation? I didn't find it via C-SPAN Vote Finder nor in Thomas.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

link to .pdf I believe
I cannot get the pdf to load. It's actually for his confirmation to deputy director.

blog on Brown confirmation

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
link to .pdf I believe
I cannot get the pdf to load. It's actually for his confirmation to deputy director.

blog on Brown confirmation

That's his confirmation hearing transcript from June. He was confirmed on Aug. 1.

Oh, you edited on me.


I'm not alone in being unable to find the vote info:

http://blog.mises.org/blog/archives/004054.asp

I can't find even a report of what the vote was on the nomination as under-secretary. Senate site seemingly has the vote on every other confirmation ever, but not his one. Does anyone know when and what the vote was?

Posted by: jcb at September 6, 2005 03:58 PM

 

[miketheidiot]

senate confirmation is ussually just a rubberstamp anyways.

 

[BDawg]

Cut it out, blame gamers!

All you want to do is play the blame game.

Stop playing the blame game.

 

[totalcommand]

[repugs]dems should have used the filibuster to block the confirmation[/repugs]

 

[Queasy]

Link - One of Time's sources is disputing quotes attributed to her:

Claudia Deakins, Edmond's director of marketing and public relations, was quoted in the Time article as saying that Brown was not a manager but more like an intern. Brown was assistant to the city manager in Edmond from 1977-80.

However, this morning, Deakins disputes Time's quotes attributed to her.

"I spoke with two reporters from Time Magazine Thursday. I answered questions about the City of Edmond, the organizational structure and role of the city manager and his staff. My comments were in the context of the organization as it functions today. I explained that my employment with the city of Edmond began in 1997, several years after Michael D. Brown's employment by the city and that I could not speak to the specifics of the organizational structure as it was during that time. I also explained that I could not I speak to the details of Mr. Brown's role within the organization.

"The only people who can speak with authority with regard to Mr. Brown's position in the organization are those who were at the City of Edmond during that time and worked with Mr. Brown, such as the city manager or members of the city council.

"I regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred as a result of my comments."

Edit Note: This post isn't meant as a defense of Brown (as I thought he should be removed as well). Just adding to the discussion with this bit of news.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Link - One of Time's sources is disputing quotes attributed to her:

Claudia Deakins, Edmond's director of marketing and public relations, was quoted in the Time article as saying that Brown was not a manager but more like an intern. Brown was assistant to the city manager in Edmond from 1977-80.

However, this morning, Deakins disputes Time's quotes attributed to her.

"I spoke with two reporters from Time Magazine Thursday. I answered questions about the City of Edmond, the organizational structure and role of the city manager and his staff. My comments were in the context of the organization as it functions today. I explained that my employment with the city of Edmond began in 1997, several years after Michael D. Brown's employment by the city and that I could not speak to the specifics of the organizational structure as it was during that time. I also explained that I could not I speak to the details of Mr. Brown's role within the organization.

"The only people who can speak with authority with regard to Mr. Brown's position in the organization are those who were at the City of Edmond during that time and worked with Mr. Brown, such as the city manager or members of the city council.

"I regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred as a result of my comments."

Irrelevant since he was clearly NOT the deputy manager or assistant manager . . . he was an administrative assistant that shuffled papers and answered the phone. On a good day he might get to write a speech.

 

[Gibsons]

When does he get his medal?

 

[zendari]

Wasn't he confirmed by the Democratic senate when he was appointed? Hmmm.....

Tom Daschle was Majority Leader until 2003.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
senate confirmation is ussually just a rubberstamp anyways.

Tell them to rubberstamp John Roberts.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: zendari
Wasn't he confirmed by the Democratic senate when he was appointed? Hmmm.....

Duck and run.

Typical.

Anyway the 107th Congress had the Senate split 50-50 and he just got a voice vote along with a bazillion others on that day:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r107:15:./temp/~r107Ppit8I

Executive nominations confirmed by the Senate August 1, 2002:

<...>

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Michael D. Brown, of Colorado, to be Deputy Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: conjur

Originally posted by: zendari
Wasn't he confirmed by the Democratic senate when he was appointed? Hmmm.....

Duck and run.

Typical.

Anyway the 107th Congress had the Senate split 50-50 and he just got a voice vote along with a bazillion others on that day:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r107:15:./temp/~r107Ppit8I

Executive nominations confirmed by the Senate August 1, 2002:

<...>

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Michael D. Brown, of Colorado, to be Deputy Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Was that before or after Jeffords switching parties? Tom Daschle was majority leader at the time.

I would assume they would take the time to look at his resume, being responsible Democrats and all.

 

[Bitek]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Wasn't his appointment confirmed by the Senate? This doesn't excuse Bush for nominating and placing an unqualified person in such a critical post, but Congress failed in its oversight role as well.

Yeah, Congress should have protested like they did over Bolton.
What?! Wait, who's the UN ambassador now?


Edit: Hmm maybe now would be a good time to reflect on that Bolton thread.

Then in 06 make a better presentation and kick the republicans out of power.
We live in a representative democracy. The representatives will vote for what they believe is their peoples will. If the people dont like the republican platform they will vote them out of power. But since the early 1980's the republican platform has been growing stronger and stronger.

You could imagine the comments about "obstructionist" Dems if they shot down Bush's FEMA chief, let alone a hack diplomat.