Democrats Tell Ex-FEMA Head: Keep Your Chin Up, 'Brownie'

Feb. 10, 2006 — -- For months after Hurricane Katrina, many Democrats gleefully took every opportunity to remind reporters and the public of President Bush's jovial and chummy nickname for the disgraced former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- "Brownie."

Just after the storm struck, Bush wrapped his arm around "Brownie," and proclaimed he was "doin' a heck of a job."

As the post-Katrina crisis worsened, Democrats and other administration critics seized on the nickname and phrase and called for Brown's resignation. They also maintained that Brown hadn't been qualified to head FEMA to begin with -- his previous job had been heading the Arabian Horse Association. Brown finally resigned on September 26.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, even introduced a bill this past November that would require minimum job requirements for political appointees to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA.

So it was a little odd at Senate hearings on Capitol Hill today to see the very same Frank Lautenberg telling Brown: "Keep your chin up and fight back. You're not here to be the designated scapegoat."

Brown had just emerged from a heated and scathing exchange with Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who told Brown to "put a mirror in front of your face so you can recognize your own inadequacies."

In the six months since Katrina, after all, Brown has been cut loose by the administration and has become somewhat of a public pariah, although he's still linked to the White House as its guy on the ground right after Katrina hit.

Today was Brown's turn to fire back. He appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Reform as a private citizen, out from under the protective umbrella of "executive privilege" usually invoked by the White House to keep internal communications private.

And while Brown lauded the performance of both Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Chief of Staff Andrew Card, he also said he'd told them and the president the day before the hurricane hit that the government was facing a "catastrophe within a catastrophe." Then on Monday, August 29, the day after Katrina made landfall, Brown said he told staffers at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that the levies had broken and "our worst fears are coming true."