Playing Politics With FEMA

I got to meet Jeff Byard when I was a student at the National Training Center for the Executive Academy. It was apparent to me that Jeff is one of the emergency managers that not only loves the job, but he also wants to improve it.

If you have taken any time to read or listen to my podcast EM Weekly, you know that the improvement of the field of Emergency Management is almost an obsession of mine. Along with leadership. Jeff emulates both of these qualities. When Jeff came to talk to the class, he brought with him the books that he uses every day. This included a ratty, dog eared copy of the Staffard Act. He had tabs, highlighted paragraphs, and pencil markings in the margins.

Why am I telling you about what books Jeff schleps around? Because it shows you what kind of guy he is. If he does not have the information on the top of his head, he knows how to find it.

Jeff has the experience that we need at the head of FEMA, he has responded to the "big one" a few times in his career. He is a former Marine, his discipline comes through when you speak to him. Jeff is someone who will lead the team and not just play politics.

Now that begs the question. Why are they playing politics with FEMA's leadership? It comes down to this. The political process is broken and emergency management is paying for it. FEMA is an easy target. When things go wrong in the world it is easy to point the finger at FEMA and deflect from the political failings of the system. If you can remember back to Katrina when the system failed they pointed to Mike Brown. The political class needed to or wanted to make a point and try to discredit President Bush, so whom did they go after? FEMA. This is a play that happens time and time again.

When are we going to stop this process of eating our own when it comes to this type of processes? The political hearings have become a circus, the oversight has become a game of how hard can we harm the other party.

In the past, we had a loyal opposition, one that was true to the Constitution of the United States. That when the party was out of power, they did their job of keeping the other side honest. Today we have partisan politics that hurt the citizens of this nation. Playing politics with FEMA undermines the dedicated men and women of this organization. The people of FEMA spend countless days away from their families to serve those in need. We can do better than play politics. Jeff Bayard deserves better.

Let me know how you feel.