How many 47 year olds do you know that have a resume that includes jobs they held while working on their undergraduate degree?
A 12/03/2001 White House press release nominating Michael D. Brown as Deputy Director of FEMA states:
...from 1975 to 1978, Brown worked for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma, overseeing the emergency services divisions.
A few key facts:
(1) Brown was born on November 11, 1954.
(2) Brown received his BA from Central State University in 1978.
(3) US Census data indicates that the population of Edmond, Oklahoma increased from 16,600 in 1970 to 34,600 in 1980.
A few key questions:
(1) How many "emergency services divisions" do you suppose your average city of approximately 25,000 in Oklahoma ordinarily maintains?
(2) What credentials did Brown have for his Edmond 'oversight' job in addition to his high school diploma? Was it a full time position? What percentage of the position was devoted to emergency services?
(3) Just how desperate was the White House in looking for justification for Brown's nomination to include this college job in their official press release?
Brown's Bio
Here is the full text of the 2001 White House press release:
The President intends to nominate Michael D. Brown to be Deputy Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Brown was appointed FEMA General Counsel in February, and Acting Deputy Director in September, where he has served as the Chairman of the Consequences Management Working Group. From 1991 to 2001, Brown was the Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, an international subsidiary of the national governing organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee. From 1988 to 1991, Brown was General Counsel to Dillingham Insurance, Suits Drilling, Suits Rig, Latigo Energy, Dillingham Ranch and Dillingham Enterprises, and from 1980 to 1988, he was an attorney in private practice. In 1978 to 1980, he worked for the Oklahoma State Senate Finance Committee, and from 1975 to 1978, Brown worked for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma, overseeing the emergency services divisions. Brown is a graduate of Central State University and Oklahoma City University Law School.
More biographical data may be found at Findlaw. Additional research on Brown's background may yield some additional interesting details. For example, Findlaw includes the following entry for Brown:
Chairman, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, Edmond, OK, 1980 - Present
The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority web site states:
The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority was established by the Oklahoma Legislature on June 2, 1981. Why? What forces caused the creation of this joint action agency? What did the participants expect the Authority to accomplish that was beyond their reach as individual cities? OMPA was formed to provide an adequate, economical, and reliable source of electric power for cities who owned their municipal electric system on the date of "The Act."
Was it 1980 or 1981? And what qualifies an individual who is just finishing law school to be the best candidate to be selected as Chairman of this new organization?
Irony From the 2003 Denver Post
- President Bush announced Friday that he intends to nominate Colorado lawyer Michael D. Brown to be undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response in the new Department of Homeland Security.
...Brown said last summer that he was confident the agency has developed an 'all-hazards approach' that would work well as part of the new department.
'We're really good at coordinating,' he said then. 'We're called the government's honest broker, and I think that's true.'
...In nearly 10 years as the judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association, Brown displayed some of the same skills he has used in D.C., pressing the 28,000-member group to establish and maintain firm standards for judging Arabian horses. Brown noted last year that the group won every suit over the standards he drafted.
[From Auroran is tapped for security position; [Final Edition] Bill McAllister Denver Post Washington Bureau. Denver Post. Denver, Colo.: Jan 12, 2003. pg. A.05]
Also posted at scoop.epluribusmedia.org.