EXCLUSIVE!!! FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions in False Claims to Help Bush W

http://jasonleopold.blogspot.com/2005/09/exclusive-fema-chief-brown-paid.html

snip - Michael Brown, the embattled head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approved payments in excess of $31 million in taxpayer money to thousands of Florida residents who were unaffected by Hurricane Frances and three other hurricanes last year in an effort to help President Bush win a majority of votes in that state during his reelection campaign, according to published reports.


Much more at the above link.

And now we know why George will never fire him.

Who is he?

“News Junkie is a page-turner. Jason Leopold is an excellent writer. A brutally honest, behind-the-scenes account of obsession, addiction, and paranoia.”

--James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces

News Junkie is a weirdly fascinating memoir. You don't so much read it as you watch and listen to it unfold. Jason Leopold reveals the world of journalism with an intimacy and power few of us would otherwise be privileged to share. Leopold is a "news junkie" - - his story of addiction and his "double life" which is meshed with tales of his fascinating career as a brilliant journalist is simultaneously sad, hysterical, frightening, irreverent, profound, moving and entertaining. I wish I had been as courageous in telling my story about mental illness. He's not only a survivor but a true hero.

-- Andy Behrman, author of Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania

”Investigative Super Star Jason Leopold spares no one, least of all himself, in this devastatingly accurate first-hand expose of corporate, political and journalistic corruption from Enron to The New York Times. Hollywood’s younger action heroes will be fighting for the star role in News Junkie because of the cocaine, personal betrayals and wildly dysfunctional emotions coursing through this unrestrained account of what happens to a young man who, more even than fame, respect and drugs, craves knowledge of the truth. Just beneath its tempestuous surface, however, News Junkie provides the best account so far of how, and why, current American journalism has become so pharasaical, spineless, and detached from the truth.”

-- T.D. Allman, journalist and author of Rogue State, Unmanifest Destiny and Finding Florida

"I love this book. I love Jason Leopold. When other US reporters were licking Ken Lay's loafers, Leopold went for Enron's thieving throat. But Leopold is a fool, and a fascinating readable one at that: a journalist who insists on real investigative reporting -- inside documents, inside sources, hard knife-in-the-gut evidence -- detective-style reporting that is just about illegal in the USA. ...you'll get a hard-core story of a true investigative journalist hunted down and professionally exterminated, a hero cut down by the lazy fat pricks we call 'mainstream reporters.' The book is worth the price just for exposing the craven toadies of the New York Times who open their pages to White House hatchet jobs against offending reporters. Bravo and my personal Pulitzer to Jason Leopold. Every journalist in America should read this, then quit or riot."

--Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

“Jason Leopold bravely and unsparingly chronicles his life in journalism, by turns shining light on corporate scandal, then turning our attention to his own previous double life. This memoir is one of the most brutally honest books I’ve ever read. You will grow to believe, and cheer on, this flawed hero as he gains a liberating knowledge of himself.”

--Joe Loya, author of The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber

“Having told the truth for years as a first-rate reporter, Jason Leopold now comes completely clean about himself, and also sheds some light on his imperiled profession.
A riveting account of just how hard the truth can be.”

--Mark Crispin Miller, New York Times bestselling author of The Bush Dyslexicon and Cruel and Unusual

“Frighteningly honest. What Tony Bourdain did to the world of cooking in Kitchen Confidential, Leopold will do to the world of journalism with News Junkie. It’s Sid & Nancy meets All The President’s Men."

--Rob Cohen, author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, Etiquette for Outlaws

And neither does the rest of the BFEE.

So that makes him double-plus good in my book.



Gee. What's a traitor got to do to get noticed in the press these days?

I know that for a fact. I recommend that if you read him, do so with skepticism.

Other sites know that Jason fabricates, too, and some will no longer publish his pieces. Those that know yet still do are sloppy editors.

Our local papers still report on it occasionally. Brown gave so much money to people who weren't much affected, that the people who really were affected in central Florida got little or nothing. Very strange that FEMA headed straight to Miami where the only damage was from a few tree limbs, and a tiny power outage. I wonder if Cuban Republicans had much to do with it. The counties hardest hit were largely Democratic counties. What does that tell you?

If he should be viewed with skepticism, you should tell people exactly how you know this.

:puke:

Hey DogSpot:
This is Jason Leopold. That's quite an accusation you make against me. I challenge you to back up your claims. I would be more than happy to hear this since this is news to me. Moreover, I dont' appreciate being slandered. I spend my own money and don't get paid to write these stories. I do it because I am passionate about journalism and the truth. I never, ever made up quotes. And I don't know where you get your information from claiming that other sites know this true. That is absolutely untrue. And if you are going to use the Salon thing, in which I was tossed to the wolves because I attacked the administration three years ago, you're way too late.

Best
Jason Leopold

I read you on worldnewstrust.org.
A pleasure to have you here!
:toast:

Cheers to you Career Prole. Appreciate the kind welcome.

To all those at Democratic Underground:

All of my work, my investigative journalism, is archived on my website. I include in each and every article footnotes and links to the original stories if in fact I cite any. My work can stand up to any scruitny and if anyone wants to comb through it you are more than welcome to. It's because of my integrity that I've been able to publish these stories. The fact is that I am a lightning rod and I routinely am skewered by the Bush administration and the media because of my hard-hitting reports. DogSpot is making a very seriously allegation against me and I suspect that he or she is simply someone that either does not agree with the truth or simply dislikes me. But to make a blanket statement like that without any evidence is simply unfair and hurtful.

Best
Jason Leopld

I'd like more detail to your charge as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4726149&mesg_id=4737996

We should all view things we hear with skepticism.

What's up with that?

If you have an Amazon.com account, that's where it's getting it from.

That whole one click remeber your credit card and address thing is going on in the amazon ad on that site I think.

pay back fema!! because they had no damage..i will look to see if i stillhave any of the articles..

from clearwater..fly

sorry no link left from yahoo!. so i will post in full mods!!

May 19, 2005
Was FEMA Buying Support for Bush in Florida?
By DHinMI

Lisa Simpson: Didn't you wonder why you were getting checks for doing nothing?

Grandpa Simpson: I figured 'cuz the Democrats were in power again.

That line is from a brilliant Simpsons episode from 1993, but if it were to air today, there's reason to think Grandpa could say 'cuz FEMA was doling out cash to help Bush win Florida:

The chief of the federal disaster relief agency on Wednesday defended his office's response to victims of Florida's hurricanes against allegations of fraud and overpayments.

An audit showed that thousands of people who did not need aid cashed checks that totaled more than $31 million. The allegations were based on "marginal cases" and did not reflect the typical response to disasters by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael D. Brown told a Senate committee...

The audit cited allegations that FEMA paid $720,000 to 228 applicants for personal property items based only on the applicants' verbal descriptions.

It also found that FEMA paid $97,500 to replace 15 automobiles with a combined Blue Book value of $56,140. The agency said the cost of replacement transportation, rather than the market value of cars, is its basis for the awards.

There's been a bit of coverage of this issue over the last few days, but everything I've seen has taken the standard "government waste and ineptness" angle. But nobody, to my knowledge, has questioned whether there was a deliberate policy of loose disbursement of funds to residents of one of the two most crucial state being defended by the Republicans on behalf of George W. Bush. I doubt many people would decide to vote for Bush becuase they discovered it was easy to defraud FEMA. But flinging money around in excess of what was required certainly would have helped prime the pumps of the Florida economy, and help keep voters from getting dissatisfied with the conditions of the state governed by the President's brother and required for the reelection of the President.


FEMA has generally been thought to be a relatively well-run agency. Hopefully some enterprising journalists well-acquainted with DC bureaucracies will poke around at FEMA and see if there's any reason to believe that FEMA's response to the Florida hurricanes was politicized, becuase there's certainly good reason to suspect that it was.

We heard the stories about getting checks for anything. In the Tampa area and it wasn't even really hit.

Report faults FEMA on aid

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The federal government gave $31 million in disaster relief for Hurricane Frances to 12,000 Florida residents who were not directly hit by the hurricane last fall and may not have deserved any money, government auditors say in a report to be released Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) didn't adequately inspect homes and used a system of aid payments "susceptible to potential fraud, waste and abuse," says the report by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.

The findings are the latest to point at questionable disaster relief payments made by FEMA. Audits dating back at least a decade have shown similar problems elsewhere. The agency was the target of millions of dollars in phony claims after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The latest report said that FEMA paid $15,742 for three funerals without any proof that the deaths were disaster-related. The agency also paid $2.7 million to repair 2,180 homes even though inspectors didn't have proper documentation, and residents were reimbursed $192,592 for chainsaws, generators and other unverified expenses, the report said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-17-fema-aid_x.htm?csp=34

Here’s one http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-fema03mar03,0,3965270.story?coll=sfla-news-utility

<snip>
Three are accused of collecting money using addresses where they did not live. Another claimed damage from a sewer backup that occurred weeks before the storm in a home that had been condemned, court records say.
<snip>
The arrests are the first in a continuing investigation in Miami-Dade, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid $30.9 million to almost 13,000 residents for Frances, the Labor Day storm that meteorologists likened to a severe thunderstorm in the county.
<more>

More here http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-femacoverage,0,6697347.storygallery?coll=sfla-news-utility
This one has a whole bunch of instances with links to more. Google fema fraud florida, you can read for hours
<snip>
The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for new cars, dental bills and a funeral even though the Medical Examiner recorded no deaths from Frances.
<more>

NOT ONE DAMN THING! The Public Good? Thing of the past.

Thanks for the links, sorry for the cynicism. Truth is painful.

I remember the stories. I told people in the midwest about the stories, emailed them to people, no one paying attention, as usual. Preaching to the choir, as usual.

Let's hope that we can keep ALL of this trash in front of people long enough for them to pay attention!

homicide....and he won't even be FIRED? He should be in prison for life. GW is so fond of the death penalty, maybe THAT's an option. :sarcasm:

Thanks! We need all the ammo we can get when addressing the media and congress critters.

------------------------------------------------------
Ditch Bu$h and save the Gulf: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

Criminal.

This administration's handling of OUR money must be investigated. Isn't anyone watching? I feel so used and helpless, because they are robbing us while we watch it happening, laugh in our faces as though they know there isn't one damned thing we can do about it, and then continue on their merry way.

FEMA is small potatoes compared to what they've probably done with the Iraq and Afghanistan, et al.

They are a disgrace to Americans! No wonder the world is laughing at us!

to this f-uped administration! Angry and Frustrated!

,...and have repeatedly refused to account for all that money. Their response: dunno',...it's lost. HMPF!!!

Heard about a single mon in FLA that was forced to pay back over $800 and was still living in a house with a hole in the roof.

The $31 million sounds like bribe money to me.

:rofl:

I live in S. FL and wrote my senators and my worthless-as-tits-on-a-boar-hog congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, about this. These checks all went to Miami. MIAMI! There was no friggin hurricane in Miami last year!

Bush's support in Miami is mostly from the Old-money, Old-line Cubans (i.e. Batistas from the 50's, who left Cuba with all the treasury). They were as bad or worse than Castro. Anyway, they're the ones who support Bush (and of course Nixon and other Repugs in between the two). So perhaps with this money, this illiterate, lying, incompetent little Oklahoma ass was trying to buy some more votes in Miami. Pathetic.

Part of what when right with 9/11 was because the safety net had not been destroyed yet.
FEMA has been turned into a money laundering method to buy votes. It does not help, it just hands money out to "Friends Of Bush" after a disaster strikes nearby.
Now, with this disaster we can see just how much this administration has gutted the machinery of government.

:rofl:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/sfl-femacoverage,0,6697347.storygallery?coll=sfla-news-utility

CASHING IN ON DISASTER


Hurricane Frances hit South Florida Labor Day weekend, 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County, but Sun-Sentinel reporters found that the federal government approved $28 million in storm claims there for new furniture and clothes and thousands of new televisions microwaves, refrigerators and other appliances. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for new cars, dental bills and a funeral even though the Medical Examiner recorded no deaths from Frances. In an ongoing series of reports, the newspaper also found FEMA inspectors were given only cursory training and attributed damage to tornadoes - there were none recorded in the county - and in six instances listed “ice/snow’’ as the cause. The reports have prompted calls for investigations by federal and state officials and the beginnings of an inquiry by the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security.

--

Never forget that Florida had a lotta electoral votes in an election year...

I've been saying it for years. :shrug:

I posted some links on a thread a few days ago that has now been archived , so I'll repost here.


State records (Florida) show Bush re-election concerns played part in FEMA aid March 23 2005


--snip

As the second hurricane in less than a month bore down on Florida last fall, a federal consultant predicted a "huge mess" that could reflect poorly on President Bush and suggested that his re-election staff be brought in to minimize any political liability, records show.

Two weeks later, a Florida official summarizing the hurricane response wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handing out housing assistance "to everyone who needs it without asking for much information of any kind."

The records are contained in hundreds of pages of Gov. Jeb Bush's storm-related e-mails initially requested by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Oct. 13. The governor's office finally released the documents Friday, after threat of a lawsuit by the newspaper.

Democrats in Washington said the records confirm suspicions that the federal government used the hurricanes to funnel money to Florida, a key battleground state in the presidential election. "They weren't really asking for information, yet they were just doling out this money like it was Christmas," said Lale Mamaux, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.



--snip


And many, many more links about this here:

Cashing in on Disaster


We've been fuming about this down here in South Florida since last fall. Please help get this info out as widely as possible.

We are connecting the dots *big time* now, y'all!

and have been totally ignored!!
the gulf coast and orlando poor got near nothing or just started to get a little aide in april and may!!

miami got the money due to those who suffered the hurricanes of which miami did not !!

we screamed about it all through oct through election and we were ignored!!

fly

money that they weren't entitled to in Florida and they must have a hard time looking in the mirror these past twelve days since they've illegally hurt the funding of FEMA. Now that there is a most unbelievable disaster in this country, they own some of the financial responsibility by repayment and it should start with an attachment to their income and go directly to an assigned Karina victim. That's right off the top of my head. Of course, they wouldn't have been able to do it, hadn't the crooks in charge LET THEM, for their own political agenda for the election. What a disgusting bunch of rat ass people. All of them should be sued personally, IMO. Starting where the problems started, with FEMA/HOMELAND SECURITY. These individuals should be paying the money back for the rest of their lives. Then it should trickle down to the low lives who made fraudulent claims.

were asking for money back from people in miami but the people had spent the money already and yet we on the west coast that had roofs and fronts missing or severely damaged hadn't even gotten a dime yet..and no repairs were started as late as march! right on the gulf..in clearwater and st pete..and surrounding areas..we still had people living in tent cities or the poor living in their cars in polk county...but the people who were getting bills to send the money back..had already spent their fema lottery money!
in fact i had pictures of homes in miami that were in pristine condition and they got fema money!! while homes on the west coast and orlando..poor people still had no roofs on their homes!! because they got zilch!

and at the same time before the election in orlando sheriffs were busting into poor black peoples homes demanding to see their voter registration cards and they were being fully frightened to go vote..these people were being terrorized..even being cuffed by sherrifs..and guns drawn when the cops busted into their homes to demand their voter registration cards!

when and where does this stop...

and what did the dems do that we sent these stories to ....nothing....

they looked the other way...

why did kerry not jump all over this ..we were sending him these stories , i in fact told him to his face what was going on...

he said ..send it to him..i did ..and nothing!

not a word about it!

i am not dumping on kerry but it is a perfect example of the locals not being listened to..they send in all these out siders to our areas for elections and the locals are ignored about important stuff !

fly

we're well into another hurricane season.

before this storm hit florida, i joked about katrina going through miami because they already had THEIR fema money.

ellen fl

kick

These people never cease to amaze me with disgust. *Sigh*

:kick:

Wonder what he could tell us about $ for votes?

Winning elections is the only emergency these guys understand.

The Bush Admin. will never be prosecuted for their crimes.

:kick:

You pass around some money and they vote your way. It didn't work in FL because they had to steal that again in 2004 but this is a great post.

personal slush fund to pay taxpayer dollars to cronies and people who don't really deserve it.

State records show Bush re-election concerns played part in FEMA aid

Consultant predicted a `huge mess'

By Megan O'Matz & Sally Kestin
Staff Writers
Posted March 23 2005

As the second hurricane in less than a month bore down on Florida last fall, a federal consultant predicted a "huge mess" that could reflect poorly on President Bush and suggested that his re-election staff be brought in to minimize any political liability, records show.

Two weeks later, a Florida official summarizing the hurricane response wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handing out housing assistance "to everyone who needs it without asking for much information of any kind."

The records are contained in hundreds of pages of Gov. Jeb Bush's storm-related e-mails initially requested by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Oct. 13. (Note: This would have been before the election.)

The governor's office finally released the documents Friday, after threat of a lawsuit by the newspaper.

Democrats in Washington said the records confirm suspicions that the federal government used the hurricanes to funnel money to Florida, a key battleground state in the presidential election. "They weren't really asking for information, yet they were just doling out this money like it was Christmas," said Lale Mamaux, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fema23mar23,0,5221240.story

Then, the "internets" came along (thank you Al Gore) and fucked up their intention to deceive,...laying in wait, pre-meditated plan to BETRAY, MANIPULATE & USE the congress and the American people to carry out their plans to murder for purposes of profiteering.

That's what this regime has done. They deserve the powerlessness they IMPOSED upon humanity. They will GET that sense of powerlessness, whether they like it or not, at some point.

is this verified??OH my goddess please let it spread.......

pardon me while I :puke:

We all knew this was true - even as it was happening. What was that other number - paid 325 death benefits even though only 125 were killed in the hurricane (forget which one). Encouraging people to file claims they didn't deserve. Bastards talk about liberal hand outs and they give huge amounts of money to corporations and buy people's votes - huh!

deserve were in affluent neighborhoods (Republican), where FEMA sent canvassers into the neighborhoods. Something they absolutely have NEVER done in the heaviest damaged poorer areas.

at what this political hack was doing during previous hurricanes. This story will be unfolding over the next year or so...

a woman I know did, and the next day FEMA deposited $3000 in her checking account! It was minor roof damage, so the money more than covered it. She laughed at the time and said "it's like Jeb is trying to by my vote or something"!

Flood media, Florida Dems, our own Reps....all of the above?

reporting on this. It's just that the rest of the country's media has ignored it.

week. Her guest was a Democratic representative from Florida, Wasserman-Schultz (I think that's her name) and the rep said that a FEMA rep with the last name Carlisle was going around giving doctors sample letters which indicated how they could attribute patient's deaths to a hurricane. One of the samples she read from even had a fill in the blank option.

I think the show was on Thursday, September 8, 2005, so look for it on iTunes or in the air america archives. Good stuff and it ticked me off knowing so many are suffering in New Orleans and Mississippi and the only reason they are not high on Bush's priority list is because it's not an election year.

Who wants to bet that if this had happened next year in the mid term elections and a pug was running for representative, the Bush coffers would be totally open.

KOlbermann@msnbc.com

and to his show, Countdown:

Countdown@msnbc.com

Also send to CNN - they broke the lack of credentials for Brown, maybe they would dare to expose this as well. Let's hope.

...and got diddly in response.

Here we go again:

They BOUGHT VOTES IN FLORIDA RIGHT BEFORE THE 200o sELECTION!!!!!!

And they won't provide the same for displaced Gulf Coast folks now after Katrina.

Send suggestion to this Committee that FEMA be entirely deconstructed and remade as an agency working in the public interest--and all Bush regime contracts canceled, among other things...

-----

The Senate H.E.L.P. Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) has been requesting input on Katrina reconstruction. The deadline was changed from Friday 9/9 to Monday, 9/12 (but presume 9/11, by the end of today) to allow more input. I don't know if DUers are aware of this. It's a great opportunity to help influence the treatment of survivors and the fate of the Gulf coast.

The email for public input is listed below. These emails are going to start being reviewed by committee staff tomorrow (Mon, 9/12). I heard about this on a CNN radio rebroadcast of the Senate H.E.L.P. Committee roundtable (of disaster experts) on 9/8, but could not get this posted until now.

Email: katrina_comments@help.senate.gov
Senate H.E.L.P. website: http://help.senate.gov /
(The ranking Democrat is Sen. Edward Kennedy.)

My input to the committee is at:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4735625

Hey DogSpot:
This is Jason Leopold. That's quite an accusation you make against me. I challenge you to back up your claims. I would be more than happy to hear this since this is news to me. Moreover, I dont' appreciate being slandered. I spend my own money and don't get paid to write these stories. I do it because I am passionate about journalism and the truth. I never, ever made up quotes. And I don't know where you get your information from claiming that other sites know this true. That is absolutely untrue. And if you are going to use the Salon thing, in which I was tossed to the wolves because I attacked the administration three years ago, you're way too late.


To all those at Democratic Underground:

All of my work, my investigative journalism, is archived on my website. I include in each and every article footnotes and links to the original stories if in fact I cite any. My work can stand up to any scruitny and if anyone wants to comb through it you are more than welcome to. It's because of my integrity that I've been able to publish these stories. The fact is that I am a lightning rod and I routinely am skewered by the Bush administration and the media because of my hard-hitting reports. DogSpot is making a very seriously allegation against me and I suspect that he or she is simply someone that either does not agree with the truth or simply dislikes me. But to make a blanket statement like that without any evidence is simply unfair and hurtful.

Best
Jason Leopld

against you if you don't get an answer, Jas. Just sayin'. :)