Those FEMA guys are SMOOOOOTHE

[wordsmythe]

washingtonpost.com

FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA

By Al Kamen
Friday, October 26, 2007; Page A19

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.

Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices. They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets.

Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

He was apparently quite familiar with the reporters -- in one case, he appears to say "Mike" and points to a reporter -- and was asked an oddly in-house question about "what it means to have an emergency declaration as opposed to a major disaster declaration" signed by the president. He once again explained smoothly.

FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker interrupted at one point to caution he'd allow just "two more questions." Later, he called for a "last question."

"Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" a reporter asked. Another asked about "lessons learned from Katrina."

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far," Johnson said, hailing "a very smoothly, very efficiently performing team."

"And so I think what you're really seeing here is the benefit of experience, the benefit of good leadership and the benefit of good partnership," Johnson said, "none of which were present in Katrina." (Wasn't Michael Chertoff DHS chief then?) Very smooth, very professional. But something didn't seem right. The reporters were lobbing too many softballs. No one asked about trailers with formaldehyde for those made homeless by the fires. And the media seemed to be giving Johnson all day to wax on and on about FEMA's greatness.


Of course, that could be because the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters. We're told the questions were asked by Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of external affairs, and by "Mike" Widomski, the deputy director of public affairs. Director of External Affairs John "Pat" Philbin asked a question, and another came, we understand, from someone who sounds like press aide Ali Kirin.

Asked about this, Widomski said: "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute."

But the staff did not make up the questions, he said, and Johnson did not know what was going to be asked. "We pulled questions from those we had been getting from reporters earlier in the day." Despite the very short notice, "we were expecting the press to come," he said, but they didn't. So the staff played reporters for what on TV looked just like the real thing.

"If the worst thing that happens to me in this disaster is that we had staff in the chairs to ask questions that reporters had been asking all day, Widomski said, "trust me, I'll be happy."

[lurker]

Uh, wurdee. Why'd ya cover-up the portion of the story that's on the right?

[wordsmythe]

as usual... I have no idea what you're making up.

I pasted part of the story and provided a link.

[TigerEyes]

Let me get this right - you're complaining because they did a weird press release?

If I were a south Californian right now, I couldn't care less what their press conference was like, as long as they responded adequately. If you're gonna complain, make it a quality complaint, would ya?!

[wordsmythe]

It'd be nice if you did get it right.

This was done in Washington DC. It didn't impact anything being done in Cali... unlike grounding the aircraft fighting the fire while Bush was there.

They staged a press conference... kinda like when the White house issued credentials to a male prostitute to pretend he was a reporter to give them softball questions.

I'd say FEMA has learned a lot of lessons.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by wordsmythe

as usual... I have no idea what you're making up. EYE NO

I pasted part of the story and provided a link.

Yelpers and I hope the glue's not dry so you can re-paste it more to the left.

[wordsmythe]

FOXNews.com - FEMA Employees' Role at News Conference on California Fires Raises Newspeople's Eyebrows - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

FEMA Employees' Role at News Conference on California Fires Raises Newspeople's Eyebrows

WASHINGTON — One way to get decent coverage in this rough-and-tumble city is to arrange to have your own employees interrogate you at your news conference.

That would seem to be the strategy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago.

FEMA scheduled an early afternoon news briefing on only 15 minutes notice to reporters here Tuesday to talk about its handling of assistance to victims of wildfires that were ravaging much of Southern California.

But because there was so little advance notice for the event held by Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy FEMA administrator, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. And many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

At the news conference itself, some FEMA employees played the role of reporter, asking questions of Johnson — queries described as soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from a person the Post said was an agency employee, not an independent journalist.

Asked about this, Mike Widomski, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, said, "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute."

Johnson issued a statement Friday saying that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible, and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

"Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received," he said. "We can and must do better."

The story was first reported in Friday's editions of The Washington Post.

[Highwayman]

Originally Posted by wordsmythe

as usual... I have no idea what you're making up....

Clueless as usual.

Originally Posted by TigerEyes

Let me get this right - you're complaining because they did a weird press release?....

Yep, a big fuss over a non-issue.
It probably raised the IQ level of the press conference by at least 20 points.

Ahnuld knows how to handle pesky reporters.

YouTube Video

[notyoubob]

Chertoff Rips Phony Press Event
By DEVLIN BARRETT (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
October 27, 2007 11:38 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - The homeland security chief on Saturday tore into his own employees for staging a phony news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government," Michael Chertoff said.

"I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment," he added.


Asked specifically if he planned to fire anyone at FEMA, which is part of his department, Chertoff declined to say, citing personnel rules.

"There will be appropriate discipline," he told reporters at a news conference with New York's governor where they announced an agreement on a driver's license plan.

Chertoff said he knew nothing about the matter until after it happened and that he "can't explain why it happened."

The White House on Friday scolded FEMA for the faux press conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.

The agency - much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago - arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of reporters at the event Tuesday and question Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy director.


The questions were soft and gratuitous.

"I'm very happy with FEMA's response," Johnson said in reply to one query from an agency employee.

FEMA gave reporters only 15 minutes notice about Tuesday's news conference. But because of the short notice, the agency made available an 800 number so reporters could call in. Many did, although it was a listen-only arrangement.

Johnson said in a statement Friday that FEMA's goal was "to get information out as soon as possible and in trying to do so we made an error in judgment."

"Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received," he said. "We can and must do better."