Katrina Coverage

The NYT offers a report on James Lee Witt in "FEMA Leader Under Clinton Makes It Pay":

…Soon after the storm hit, the State of Louisiana signed up with Witt Associates, a disaster consulting firm. Within days, Mr. Witt had become a fixture at the state's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, advising the governor and sleeping in a trailer. He even figured out a way for FEMA to reimburse the state for his firm's fees, which the company estimates at $4 million to $6 million over the next year.

In Mississippi, Witt Associates swung into action to assist employees of Pinnacle Entertainment, whose Casino Magic Biloxi had been blown off its moorings and into a parking lot. Days later in New York, Mr. Witt appeared at a news conference with another client, the Allstate Corporation, to promote creation of a catastrophe fund to ease the financial burden on insurers…

…"James Lee Witt is giving his seal of approval to some companies, and I question whether that is appropriate as you leave government," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, which studies government contracts. "He is lending his credibility as a public official to help companies advance in Washington."

…Former President Bill Clinton helped enlist as partners former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme commander and Democratic presidential candidate. Former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin reviewed the business plan. Former Senator John B. Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana, said he put in a good word for Mr. Witt with Louisiana officials. And former FEMA officials, with their own networks of contacts, are on his payroll…

…Some jobs undertaken by the onetime FEMA chief, though, could raise questions about his new role. After 9/11, his firm was paid more than $970,000 by the State of New York and concluded that evacuation plans at the Indian Point nuclear plant, plans FEMA had approved under Mr. Witt's watch, were inadequate. Last year, his company helped Louisiana officials respond to a FEMA audit, saying they had mishandled federal disaster money.

And when FEMA contracted last year to conduct a disaster-response exercise called Hurricane Pam for New Orleans, Witt Associates was identified as a subcontractor but ultimately was not asked to do any work because its fees were too high…

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