Katrina Coverage

As previously discussed, Aaron Broussard sent the Jefferson Parish pump operators out of harm's way because their stations weren't built to withstand such storms. However, as also discussed, he seems to have sent them a bit too far, as the Times-Pic says in "The pump debacle":

…Mr. Broussard's concern for public employees' welfare is understandable. Existing pump stations currently aren't safe places for workers to ride out strong hurricanes. And the parish president maintains that forcing pump workers, who receive relatively low pay, to stay on the job would be a "death sentence."

But in the future, the obvious remedy is to find more adequate shelters in — or at least near — the parish and to offer greater pay to workers who accept the risk of staying on duty during hurricanes.

Sending pumping station workers to a site 100 miles away surely hampered Jefferson's ability to respond to conditions created by Hurricane Katrina. Local governments in low-lying areas need to acknowledge that, to most residents, the property damage caused by flooding is no minor matter — and that pumping water out can be a life-and-death matter for those who do not evacuate.

This editorial - as well as the general topic of AB himself - gets discussed in "The Times-Picayune Undresses a Blowhard":

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard leapt into the white-hot media arena and became one of the most eloquent, savage, and ubiquitous critics of the Bush administration's lackluster, stutter-step response. As we noted earlier, Broussard's gift of gab had quote-hungry reporters lining up for tart samples.

But weeks later, at least one paper has remembered that Broussard is not only a political critic but also a politician — and one who played a not-insignificant role in the failed evacuation. Unfortunately for Broussard, that paper is the one his constituency reads — the New Orleans Times-Picayune…

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