A Great Work Of Fiction
...Otherwise known as FEMA bumbler-in-chief Michael Brown's resume. A few days ago, somebody defended Brown by noting that he had served as "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight" of the city of Edmond Oklahoma. Not exactly, it turns out, according to this TIME Magazine article by Daren Fonda and Rita Healy:
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," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him." Brown did do a good job at his humble position, however, according to his boss. "Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University," recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. "Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I'd ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt."In response, Nicol Andrews, deputy strategic director in FEMA's office of public affairs, insists that while Brown began as an intern, he became an "assistant city manager" with a distinguished record of service. "According to Mike Brown," she says, "a large portion [of the points raised by TIME] is very inaccurate."
That isn't the only howler on this C.V. Read the whole article at the link above. What on his resume isn't fabricated in some way...apart from his name? As I said before, there's patronage in every administration, but the smart ones send the "fail upward" types on ambassadorships to places like Lichtenstein.
Well, he's out now. No wonder Little Scottie didn't want to answer the question yesterday about whether Bush still had full confidence in Brown.
deja pseu at September 9, 2005 10:51 AM
Deakins disputes Time's quotes attributed to her:
"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."
. . .an assistant to a city manager is often the No. 2 or No. 3 person in a city government organization and has a wide variety of repsonsibilities.
From AP News:
A longtime acquaintance, Carl Reherman, said Brown was very involved in helping set up an emergency operations center in Edmond.
"From my experience with Mike, he not only worked very hard on everything he did, he had very high standards," said Reherman, who was a city councilman and also knew Brown when he was a student taking classes from Reherman, a professor of political science at Central State University.
nash at September 9, 2005 10:53 PM
Here's the link, Nash. It doesn't mean he wasn't lying or that he is qualified, of course.
http://www.edmondsun.com/articles/2005/09/09/front/front.txt
Probably just that somebody's leaning on her really hard.
Amy Alkon at September 10, 2005 6:55 AM
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