What's next for Michael Brown?
The embattled FEMA director quit yesterday, just three days after being relieved of duty heading the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. In one of the great understatements of the year, Brown admitted his resignation was "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president."
President George W. Bush initially ducked questions about Brown's resignation yesterday on his third and most extensive tour of the Gulf. "Maybe you know something I don't know. I've been working," Bush told reporters in Gulfport, Miss.
In truth, Bush knew about the resignation, and had already selected a successor — but he didn't want to pre-empt an official announcement.
This time, Bush actually selected someone with emergency management experience, tapping David Paulison, a 30-year firefighting veteran who heads the U.S. Fire Administration. Huzzah!
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So what's next for Brown?
What can he do now? Who knows. It was learned recently that Brown padded his resume.
So it's unlikely that Brown will go back to overseeing the emergency services divisions of Edmond, Okla., because, as TIME magazine reported, Brown never held a position of authority for the city. He was an assistant to the city manager, though — a position that local officials say was little more than an intern.
But what about going back to being a political science professor at Central State University, in Ohio? Nope. Charles Johnson, a member of the university's public relations office, said Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here."
Ok. But certainly Brown could return to his position as a director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, in Edmond, right? The nursing home doesn't have a board of directors anymore and when it did, no one remembers Brown being on it. According to a veteran employee Brown "was never director here, was never on the board of directors, was never executive director. He was never here in any capacity. I never heard his name mentioned here."
Article comments
1 - Jive T
With regards to Michael Brown, WHO CARES? I just read the headline and not your post.
2 - Shark
THIS JUST IN!
Michael Brown will be playing Don Knotts in an upcoming TV biography produced by the Hallmark Channel.
3 - Shark
"...Bush actually selected someone with emergency management experience, tapping David Paulison..."
This is the guy who -- in 2003 -- suggested that Americans fight biological attacks with DUCT TAPE and plastic sheeting.
(...we're doomed...)
4 - Shark
PS: Look for Brown to be awarded the Medal of Freedom.
5 - vox populi
well I read the whole petty gloating post and the response is still who cares. no question brown was not qualified for his job but there's no evidence he lacked the basic management skills it required especially when backed by qualified and experienced staff like paulson. he handled five pretty major crisises pretty well, and now it is coming clear that he may not really have screwed up in the katrinq crisis as many of the errors initially attributed to FEMA turn out to have actually been committed by the louisiana homeland security office.
basically brown took a bullet for the entire administration and if that gets him some cushy sinecure then it seems appropriate.
vox
6 - David R. Mark
Let's not forget that the #2 and #3 people at FEMA, placed their by the Bush Adminisration, also lack experience, which is why they turned to Paulison, who joined FEMA long before Bush came on the scene.
7 - David R. Mark
And for those who say, who cares, I think there are quite a few people, Democrats and Republicans, who don't want to see Brown wind up somewhere cushy.
It should infuriate Republicans that someone so woefully qualified, someone who padded his resume so blatantly, could wind up in a position of such power. One commentator said recently that in the past, a guy like Brown (who raised money for Bush, etc.) would be rewarded with an ambassadorship to somewhere safe, like Bermuda. To give him a plum job like FEMA Director is unconscionable.
8 - Nancy
I agree w/DRM: there are some positions so vital to safety/security and national wellbeing, they should not be allowed to be awarded to any political hack as payback, by any president of ANY party for ANY reason, and this is surely one of them. That's what ambassadorships to exotic locales are for.
9 - Shark
nancy: "...they should not be allowed to be awarded to any political hack as payback... That's what ambassadorships to exotic locales are for."
I guess John Negroponte must have raped one of the Bush twins or sumthin'...?
10 - Lio
Actually Negropante helped orchestrate mass murder and rape and torture in Central America in his fight against the communist boogie-man. Funny you brought him up!
11 - noname
Did you watch his Congressional hearing? He blamed everyone but himself, even though all he could say about his "coordination" of the Katrina disaster was he urged authorities to act. That's all he could say.
This guy is an irresponsible idiot.