From NYT:

“Whoever is in charge needs to get control of the situation regarding the thousands of people (including elderly, babies, infirmed, etc.) up on I-10 in New Orleans,” according to one e-mail message a Blanco aide received from his cousin on Aug. 31, two days after the storm hit. “They need food and water to start with. They seem to be in need of specific direction from the ‘powers that be,’ at the very least.”

The response of another Blanco aide to this plea was similarly exasperated. “I am getting these calls too, and I have buses and water but can’t get word on where and how to send,” wrote Kim Hunter Reed, director of policy and planning.

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These idiots couldn’t figure out that THEY were “the powers that be”? The director of policy and planning didn’t know what she was supposed to do to save her people? Did they even have a disaster plan outside of “wait for help”? They just wrung their hands and moaned, waiting for the feds to do everything for them— while they focused on PR nightmares. Are there any grown-ups in Louisiana?

How is it that of all the states, only Louisiana can’t take care of its own? This is incompetence beyond comprehension.

As a follow up the LAT has a (biased of course) story on the inability of Louisiana to get the aid money for reconstruction at the levels ($250 billion) that it wanted.

Sen Mary Landrieu’s “in-your-face” and “shrill” attitude are cited, as well as overt politicizing by LA’s Democrats along with National Democratic figures. Also mentioned were fears of corruption based on past experiences.

What was NOT mentioned was the Army Corps of Engineers report detailing the reason for the levee failure (footings not deep enough and substandard materials) over decades, proof positive that without direct Federal supervision to minute levels any money going to Louisiana is useless. Also not mentioned was the relative stupidity of blaming Bush for Katrina, and then expecting Republicans to come through in a meaningful way with Reconstruction money.

Blanco, Nagin, and Landrieu overtly fixing blame on Bush and Republicans simply guaranteed that Federal Disaster relief and reconstruction would be minimal and with as many strings as possible. In contrast Gov. Barbour of Mississippi and Sen. Lott are very effective in quietly lobbying for aid without fixing blame; and are getting money with far fewer strings (and greater amounts).

EVEN IF Blanco had screwed things up so badly, she still could have saved the day for Louisiana by publicly defending the President and offering political cover. As it stands it’s pretty unlikely a Republican House and Senate will pass hefty appropriation bills to bail out Louisiana. At the most they’ll get some money with many many restrictions and lots of federal oversight.

This is why btw New Orleans is still filled with garbage and wreckage, absent a federal directed presence running everything the locals have neither money nor organization to do anything. New Orleans as it was is basically dead, it will become basically a Disneyland version of the city, with mostly white upper class residents (to the tune of 50,000 say versus about half a million) and illegal immigrants doing the menial jobs.

This is not what I would want but it’s inevitable and predictable with Louisiana’s political leadership which is not only corrupt but incompetent. If you want Federal money you go along to get along. Simple as that.

>>Did they even have a disaster plan outside of “wait for help”? <<

Yes, they did. It goes like this:

“When in danger or in doubt, Run in circles, scream, and shout.”

I think they implemented it flawlessly.

Staff tried to burnish Blanco burnished image

Documents show aides worked on image after La. hurricanes disaster

BY MICHELLE MILLHOLLON and WILL SENTELL

Capitol news bureau

As thousands waited to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina, the governor’s top aides brainstormed on ways to make an embattled Gov. Kathleen Blanco look more “John Wayne” than “first lady.” Thrust into the national limelight by the storm, Blanco was the target of much criticism for the breakdowns in getting flood victims to safe ground.

E-mails, memos and other records released Friday show how Blanco and her staff juggled thousands of inquiries and emergencies. But as the historic natural catastrophe spiraled into a public-relations nightmare, her aides spent more and more time polishing her image.

Their solution was to have Blanco appear stronger as she was criticized in the national media and by the Bush administration as weak and ineffectual.

The hurricane made landfall at dawn Aug. 29, later flooding the New Orleans area and trapping thousands of people. The situation quickly mushroomed into despair as looters armed themselves, the sick began dying and food supplies ran short. The stranded languished for days on rooftops and bypasses waiting for rescue that was slow to come.

The sluggish governmental response is the focus of an inquiry by the U.S. Congress. The Blanco administration on Friday turned over about 100,000 pages of her staff’s internal communications to congressional committees.

The e-mails show the errors of spelling and grammar that could be expected of harried public servants hurriedly writing and replying to hundreds of queries. The records also show how they grappled with the disaster while trying to cushion the governor from blows raining down from the White House and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Just one day after Katrina came ashore, Cuban President Fidel Castro offered to send doctors, paramedics and three mobile hospitals to Louisiana. The governor’s communications director, Bob Mann, kept a lid on the letter even though Blanco met with Castro during a visit to Cuba earlier this year.

“We cannot let this get out,” Mann e-mailed the governor’s executive assistant, Paine Gowen, after receiving Castro’s letter.

At times, administration aides worked to save Blanco from herself.

On Sept. 1, the same night that Nagin snapped at Blanco and President George W. Bush to stop holding “goddamn press conferences” until resources were delivered to his ruined city, the governor suggested dropping a prepared statement into New Orleans from the air.

Blanco’s press secretary, Denise Bottcher, considered that a bad idea.

“I don’t believe it’s appropriate given the urgent nature and need to drop water and food,” Bottcher wrote in an e-mail.

Nagin said he was tired of the repeated promises from the governor and the White House that 40,000 soldiers were on the way.

At the same time, the governor of Puerto Rico’s frustration was mounting as he waited for Blanco to send a letter clearing his troops to come to Louisiana to help.

Puerto Rico wanted to send more than 1,000 National Guard members trained in hurricane relief.

“I don’t know what to do and they keep calling me to get the latest as the troops are literally on standby to be deployed,” Blanco’s Capitol Hill lobbyist Stephanie Leger e-mailed an administration aide on Sept. 2.

“Can you please let me know what to do???” she continued. “I don’t want to piss them off.”

White House war

It’s clear from the e-mails that the Blanco administration felt Bush and his aides were behind the withering assault on the governor’s image. The president also was criticized for the federal government’s lackadaisical response.

According to an e-mail written four days after Katrina came ashore, Mann stated Sept. 1 that Mike McCurry, press secretary for President Bill Clinton, was warning that the White House was mounting a “full-blown PR disaster/scandal.”

Mann, who as communications director heads Blanco’s public relations efforts, assured other administration officials that Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was “mobilizing big time to push back on criticism of the state” and the governor.

Andy Kopplin, the governor’s chief of staff at the time, wrote in another e-mail that same day that Nagin was an unwitting accomplice in the Blanco-bashing campaign staged by the White House.

“We are not bashing Nagin publicly (though we felt like it),” Kopplin admonished other Blanco administration officials on Sept. 1.

Johnny Anderson, Blanco’s assistant chief of staff, was given the task of coordinating with church leaders in the days after the hurricane. Anderson’s e-mails show he also worked behind the scenes to soothe political personalities.

Anderson was concerned about the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s visit to Baton Rouge even though state Sen. Cleo Fields assured him that Jackson’s message would be “for peace and calm.”

“I think that we need to manage his stay because he can cause more of a problem than helping if he is not controlled,” Anderson e-mailed other members of the administration on Sept. 1.

Maintaining control

Meanwhile, the Blanco administration was concentrating on control.

On Friday, Sept. 2, five days after the hurricane hit, the situation in New Orleans still was dire. Thousands needed rescue from flood waters that covered 80 percent of the city. Doctors were ventilating patients by hand. Armed looters roamed the streets.

The Bush administration attempted to force Blanco to cede control over local law enforcement and the Louisiana National Guard to the federal authorities. Blanco refused.

The next day when the subject of Blanco’s schedule came up, Bottcher, Mann and Kopplin debated whether she should visit a shelter or stage a “cabinet-type meeting at which the press is permitted to attend.”

At one point, Bottcher wrote, “I’m now a bit concerned that we’re doing too many ‘first lady’ things and not enough John Wayne. Women are easily portrayed as weak, which KBB (Blanco) has had a hard time overcoming.”

Kopplin said in a Sept. 4 e-mail that the governor needed to know that Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was in New Orleans “saying the feds are in charge.

“Our answer is the National Guard is in charge of security under her direction,” Kopplin wrote. “The mayor is in charge of the city. The governor is in charge of the state and the Guard and security.”

Bush visit

Much of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering stemmed from a long-simmering dispute with Bush and other federal officials over who bore the blame for hurricane-related breakdowns.

The dispute reached a boiling point the weekend after the storm when Bush made plans to visit Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 5, without telling Blanco.

The governor learned about the president’s trip from an Advocate reporter hours before Air Force One was scheduled to land in Baton Rouge. She quickly canceled a planned trip to Houston to visit hurricane evacuees in order to greet the president.

Bottcher questioned why the White House planned a trip to Louisiana on a day the governor was scheduled to be out of state.

“Reinforces the notion that she’s not in charge and LA needs to be federalized,” Bottcher said to top Blanco aides on Sept. 5. “She’s got to be in New Orleans tomorrow morning — meet with Nagin before he meets with president.”

Mann, a veteran of the Washington political scene, agreed with Bottcher’s assessment.

“Denise is right,” Mann wrote. “White House will be thrilled that she left the state. They will eat us for lunch. She cannot snub potus,” he said. POTUS is an abbreviation for president of the United States.

Dress for success

Kim Fuller of Witt and Associates, who Blanco hired to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Sept. 5 weighed in with, “Gov. Blanco reminds me of the classy Elizabeth Dole,” the U.S. senator from North Carolina who is married to the 1996 GOP presidential candidate, Bob Dole.

Fuller continued, “Gov. Blanco might dress down a bit and look like she has rolled up her sleeves. I have some great Liz Claiborne sports clothes that look kind of Eddie Bauer, but with class.”

Fuller recommended Blanco wear “rough-looking shoes.”

“Have you consider that she doing something ‘physical’ while she is out with” U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Fuller wrote. “Maybe if she is with the troops she can put a few bags of ice in the hands of the citizens who need it.”

Other advice appeared designed to bolster Blanco’s public image in the midst of the crisis.

“Please put KBB (Blanco) in casual clothes, a baseball cap, etc. . . she needs to visit a shelter in prime time and talk tough but hug on some folks and be sensitive,” wrote Liz Mangham of Southern Strategy Group of Louisiana in a message to a Blanco aide on Sept. 2.

“She looks tired but too comfy in her suit,” Mangham wrote. “Just some thoughts to try to help. … In fact, please put the secretaries in caps and jeans. … I don’t care if they are in the field or not … they should look like they are.”

Even Carl Hebert with the state’s emergency preparedness office could not help but give clothing advice. He stated in an Aug. 29 e-mail how well Blanco looked “in a dashing blue business suit” before continuing with his morning report on the number of fatalities and other situations that occurred overnight.

Mark Ballard and Jessica Fender of the Capitol news bureau contributed to this story.

Click here to return to story: http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/120405/new_staff001.shtml

If you need the Blanco only view of the story, check, out the Washington Post today. I’m not sure you can get more one sided than they did.

You know what, the corrupt politics are still going on down in Louisian in a bad way. My father is down there contracting with FEMA to get the Travel Trailers setup for people who lost their homes. He’s astounded by the level of corruption and the fact that local officials are more concerned with getting theirs or protecting their image than with getting these trailers setup for people to live in.

Example 1: One city was charging $20 per trailer permit. The parish didn’t like that so they took over the permit issuing duties and started charging $120 per permit.

Example 2: A group or parish politicians were blocking a trailer park being setup for people from another parish that was destroyed because they didn’t want to hurt the image of their parish and didn’t want their cops to have to do the extra work of patrolling the trailer parks.

My father said they could have had more than double the amount of trailers setup if it weren’t for the corruption and bureaucratic nonsense from the local Louisiana politicians.

I liked the bits about how Blanco wanted the LA National Guard brought back from Iraq (it takes a couple weeks to mobilize them back), but wouldn’t ask for support from the Guard in surrounding states that would be available immediately. Might make her look less than competent. It sure did.

Then there was the letter to President Bush that she had posted on the state web site, but apprarently neglected to send to the Whitehouse. She must think Bush is Santa Claus — you don’t have to actually mail the letter for him to read it.

OK guys — I’m from Southwest Louisiana, meaning my area was not hit by Katrina but it was devastated by Rita. Have you noticed that you don’t hear alot about what happened over here with Rita. Do you think it’s because we weren’t effected? Uh, the answer to that would be “NO.” The answer is because our local officials did not rely on the person presently occupying our Governor’s mansion to do squat and wouldn’t have even if we had been hit before Katrina. We didn’t need a Katrina to teach us how absolutely corrupt and inept New Orleans is — we’ve been paying for it for years over here. Our local officials were absolutely prepared to be able to communicate with each other, were absolutely in control of the area after the storm passed, picked up looters right and left (although one of our local judges let them out for reasons I won’t go into), were strict about curfews, were exceedingly helpful and polite to those of us trying to get home to check for damage (even though officially the area was closed). We didn’t get a visit from the President right away but, you know what? We didn’t need one. We took care of business.

If you want the best example of all of what an idiot our governor is, go back to an interview Nagin gave around September 1 or 2 where he talked about the President’s visit to New Orleans on August 31 I believe. It was at this time on Airforce One that the President offered to Blanco to take over the evacuation effort. Lt. Gen. Honore was already set up in Mississippi and they had the equipment being lined up and ready to go. According to Nagin in that interview, Blanco needed 24 hours to “think about” the President’s offer. Let me translate this for you into Louisianaese — Blanco is in office because of Mary Landrieu who, by the way, is also very close to the Clinton camp. I’m certain it would take Blanco at least 24 hours to go through the channels to get Hillary’s take on how that would make Blanco and the Democrats look if she allowed the Feds to come in and take over.

I personally think she should be prosecuted for manlsaughter. And please, please don’t let this drop. This woman has got to get out of here. I agree with sentiments posted above — don’t give the money to Louisiana politicians. Take us over — PLEASE. Otherwise the job will NEVER be done right.

Now that we know this, it’s incumbent on all bloggers who have spent any time on Katrina to talk about this…If she gets away with politicizing Katrina, she may be getting away with negligent homicide.

I’ve already written about this:

the proposed super-board would permit Governor Blanco to wield executive authority even if she is defeated…How is that? Because even though SB95 was defeated, SB85 was passed, and that bill puts 75% -

Short Sheeting Part II, & An Immodest Proposal

The picture of the buses underwater are good. But having fought this battle as it was raging in comments, I wanted to drop off my list of questions. Short and to point.

1. How many buses are in the capitol of LA (Baton Rouge)?

2. The distance between Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

3. Why did Gov Blanco make those people stay in New Orleans that many days without food/water?

4. Why didn’t the MSM go an hour and half up the road and ask the above 3 questions?

(1)Many buses in Baton Rouge. (2)Hour and a half. (3)Dunno. (4)Biggest political smear ever co-ordinated by the DNC/MSM. Ever. Criminal.