September 11, 2005
Blame lies not with Bush, but with Nagin and Blanco
Blame Amid the Tragedy
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.
[...]Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible--local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.
The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.
[But nooooooo.
Gov. Blanco was too busy crying and Mayor Nagin turned his attention to screaming and cussing and giving news conferences to be heading up their state and local response.--Jen]
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.
In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.
A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.
The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.
Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.
The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.
The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor., so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.
[To this day, Gov. Blanco has yet to cede control of National Guard troops to the feds.
The White House obviously figured out a way to work around the Empress of Louisiana and rescue their beleaguered citizens anyway.--J.T.]
In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.
[...[...It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."
[...]...if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.
[Obviously, Nagin and Blanco weren't working with Michael Brown and his team, either, and kept standing in the Fed's way to respond to the disaster.
The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected--and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.
IMO, Blanco should be impeached and Nagin should resign.
Every bit of the vitriol that has been turned on President Bush (and FEMA director Michael Brown) should be placed where it properly belongs: on Nagin and Blanco.
Maybe it will happen, but it probably won't because Nagin and Blanco are Democrats and better yet for him, Nagin, no matter incompetent, is one of the Dems' rising black stars.
(Notice Shrillary Clinton took Sen. Obama with her to the Astrodome last week? He's another of the Dem plantation's African-American up-and-comers. Where was Harold Ford, Jr.?)
Nagin has a lot of 'splainin' to do and hopes that by cussing, yelling, acting "cool" and pointing the blame at anyone but himself, he'll escape his responsibility.
Meanwhile, sightings of Gov. Blanco has been as scarce as hen's teeth this week and while the Left was clamoring for Michael Brown's head, Her Honor's new hire--Clinton FEMA director James Lee Witt--was MIA, also.
What does a crying lady gov do with a disaster chief when the disaster's over and the aftermath has been taken out of her hands by the very competent feds?
