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Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor More stories by Bill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs' Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Joe Allbaugh's Moneymaking Mission to the Gulf CoastLess than two weeks after Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the former FEMA head was on the scene to drum up business for his clientsHe was not there to hand out food or water; he was not there to participate in the rescue effort; and he was certainly not there to apologize for bringing the grossly incompetent Michael Brown to FEMA during his reign at the agency. On Wednesday, September 9, when Joseph Allbaugh, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), showed up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, he was there for one thing: to stir up business for his corporate clients. Allbaugh had been to Louisiana, in his official FEMA capacity, after a number of other disasters including tropical storms Allison and Isidore and Hurricane Lili. Now, he was there as the head of the Allbaugh Company -- a firm he co-founded with his wife, Diane, which specializes in advising companies how to get in on lucrative disaster relief projects. He was, the Washington Post reported, "helping his clients get business from perhaps the worst natural disaster in the nation's history." Allbaugh told the newspaper that he was there "just trying to lend my shoulder to the wheel, trying to coordinate some private-sector support that the government always asks for." The "shoulder to the wheel" mantra was repeated by Allbaugh's spokesperson, Patti Giglio, who told The Hill "He is putting his shoulder to the wheel to mobilize the private sector, getting stuff in, getting what needs to be done done." Giglio claimed that Allbaugh was not here to help his clients secure government contracts. "The first thing he says when he sits down with a client is, 'Don't hire me if you're looking for a government contract.'" One of Allbaugh's clients, the Florida-based UltraStrip Systems Inc., was supposedly persuaded by Allbaugh to get "down here" to present the case for a water filtration system, according to the Washington Post. "I'll tell them, 'Here are the list of entities [that might buy the system] that are in town, here is where they are -- go to it.'" Although Allbaugh also claimed that he does not "do government contracts," he allowed that he advises clients on "how to best craft their pitch, to craft their technical expertise so everybody knows exactly what they do." Allbaugh's clients include: the Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) division of Halliburton; TruePosition, a manufacturer of wireless location products, services and devices; the Shaw Group, a provider of engineering, design, construction, and maintenance services to government and the private sector; and UltraStrip, a company marketing the first water filtration system approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to The Hill, "Allbaugh's wife represents Trade-Winds Environmental Restoration Inc., of Long Island, N.Y., and MLU Services, a company based in Athens, Georgia, that specializes in removing debris after disasters." When whatever Congressional Committee(s) or Independent Commission takes up the investigation of why the federal government responded so inadequately to Hurricane Katrina, Joseph Allbaugh's name should surely come up. Not only was he responsible for bringing the woefully unprepared Michael Brown to the agency, he was one of the major players behind shrinking the agency and for laying the groundwork for FEMA to be slipped into the Department of Homeland Security. Long before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and Mississippi, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), then-headed by Allbaugh -- the longtime friend of President Bush who was his former chief of staff in Texas and his 2000 campaign manager -- was deeply concerned about so-called runaway government services. "Undermining ... FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office" when "instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency ... [he] appointed ... Allbaugh ... [who] quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs," Paul Krugman wrote in his New York Times Column on September 5. "With FEMA under Allbaugh's watch," In These Times pointed out a few days earlier, "White House budget director Mitch Daniels announced in April 2001 the goal of privatizing much of" the agency's work. Playing off a variation of Grover Norquist's "My goal is to cut government ... down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," in 2001, Allbaugh told Congress that, "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective state and local risk management. Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level." Before leaving FEMA in December 2002 -- to found The Allbaugh Company, a Washington, D.C.-lobbying outfit eager to cash in on lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts -- Allbaugh helped bury FEMA inside the new Department of Homeland Security. Allbaugh was also the person who brought Michael Brown to government service. It is clear from a slew of recent reporting that the major reason Brown signed on with FEMA was that Allbaugh facilitated his old college roommate's appointment. Even before he was "reassigned" back to Washington on Friday, September 9, Michael Brown's back-story had, unfortunately for him, surfaced. The public discovered that he had come to FEMA after being "fired" or "let go" from his controversial nearly 10-year tenure running the International Arabian Horse Association (IAHA), a breeders' and horse-show organization based in Colorado. While "czar" of the IAHA, Brown came under heavy criticism for his leadership skills or lack thereof. WorldNetDaily, a conservative news site, reported on September 5, that Brown had actually been "fired" from his "job" with the IAHA. However, Brown's contentious tenure at the IAHA was just the tip of an iceberg of controversy. In a story posted September 8 entitled, "How Reliable Is Brown's Resume? -- A TIME investigation reveals discrepancies in the FEMA chief's official biographies" Time magazine reported that Brown's biography on the FEMA Web site grossly overstated his disaster relief experience. "He was said to have been an 'assistant city manager with emergency services oversight' in Edmond, Oklahoma, but a city official said the job was actually 'assistant to the city manager,' with little responsibility." It appears that Brown was more like an intern than an "assistant city manager." Time also reported that Brown "padd[ed] ... his resume" in other areas as well. Under the 'honors and awards' section of his profile at FindLaw.com -- which is a website focusing on the legal profession -- he lists 'Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University.' However, Brown 'wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here,' said Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University). 'He may have been an adjunct instructor,' says Johnson, but that title is very different from that of 'professor.' Carl Reherman, a former political science professor at the University through the '70s and '80s, says that Brown 'was not on the faculty.' As for the honor of 'Outstanding Political Science Professor,' Johnson says, 'I spoke with the department chair yesterday and he's not aware of it.' Johnson could not confirm that Brown made the Dean's list or was an 'Outstanding Political Science Senior,' as is stated on his online profile." At FEMA, Brown first served as its Deputy Director and the agency's General Counsel. After Allbaugh left the agency in January 2003, Brown became the first Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response in the newly created Department of Homeland Security. The hiring of Michael Brown was not Allbaugh's only contribution to the erosion of FEMA's capabilities. Although he was no longer at FEMA when in June 2004, it partially privatized its hurricane disaster plan for New Orleans, by contracting the work to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, firm Innovative Emergency Management (IEM) whose motto is "Managing Risk in a Complex World," Allbaugh's stamp was writ large over the process. On June 3, 2004, two days after announcing the contract on its website, the company claimed that it "will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract" with the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA. In These Times reported that IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas had told Biz New Orleans that, "Given this area's vulnerability, unique geographic location and elevation, and troubled escape routes, a plan that facilitates a rapid and effective hurricane response and recovery is critical. The IEM team's approach to catastrophic planning meets the challenges associated with integrating multi-jurisdictional needs and capabilities into an effective plan for addressing catastrophic hurricane strikes, as well as man-made catastrophic events." The press release, according to the web log Lenin's Tomb, was removed from the company's online press release archives after Katrina hit. While it may appear unseemly that Allbaugh would visit Katrina-devastated areas to parlay his previous government service into lucrative contracts for his clients while bloated bodies were still floating down the flooded streets of New Orleans and people were still reeling from their losses, that seems to be the man's modus operandi. In 2003, Allbaugh was a founder of New Bridge Strategies, a company aiming to "help businesses develop opportunities in Iraq, and Diligence-Iraq, to provide security for civilians in the Middle East," the Washington Post reported. While the protect-civilians-from-terrorism business is hopping -- expanding into Europe and Asia -- Allbaugh said that New Bridge Strategies has been on hold because companies are reluctant to invest in Iraq. It has already been reported that KBR, a subsidiary of the Houston, Texas-based Halliburton -- the company previously run by Vice President Dick Cheney, which has made billions of dollars off the War in Iraq -- has received a $16.6 million Navy contract to repair Gulf Coast military facilities. On September 8, President Bush signed a proclamation voiding Section 3142(a) of title 40, of the US Code, which provides that "every contract in excess of $2,000, to which the Federal Government or the District of Columbia is a party ... shall contain a provision stating the minimum wages to be paid various classes or laborers and mechanics." It appears that as in Iraq, where US-based companies have reaped billions of dollars from so-called reconstruction projects while Iraqis have been basically shut out of the process, Gulf Coast cleanup and rebuilding contracts garnered by Allbaugh's clients will undoubtedly benefit from Bush's latest proclamation. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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