Political hack in charge of Fed pandemic response

[bonzotex]

Via Transparent Grid:

http://www.transparentgrid.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2005/10/05/1174/

Great site for Avian Flu Info and other things.

Excerpt:
The former Assistant Secretary, John Hauer, is now director of the Response to Emergencies and Disasters Institute at The George Washington University. Prior to being appointed as assistant secretary, Hauer served as Director of Emergency Management for New York City. Hauer is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and has served on the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine’s Committee to Evaluate R&D Needs for Improved Civilian Medical Response to Chemical and Biological Terrorism.

His successor, appointed in 2003 as ASPHEP is Stewart Simonson, who like Michael Brown at FEMA is a lawyer who was close to a political benefactor. Simonson graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1994 and served as legal counsel to Tommy Thompson while he was governor of Wisconsin from 1995 to 1999. Simonson then followed Thompson to Washington when the governor was appointed as head of HHS. Simonson’s bio at HHS states that “from 2001-2003, he was the HHS Deputy General Counsel and provided legal advice and counsel to the Secretary on public health preparedness matters. Prior to joining HHS, Simonson served as corporate secretary and counsel for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK).”

<more in original>

This is the guy in charge (Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness) of coordinating National response to Health issues such as widespread disease outbreak or a bio weapon attack.

We are doomed....and Bush wants to use the military to quarantine Americans in the event of an epidemic.

[Angry Girl]

1. Hacks or potential fall guys?

I guess we'll see....

What never ceases to amaze me is the unmitigated gall of this administration to plant such incompetence in these positions, at the risk of tens of thousands if not millions of lives.

No malice? Just plain stupidity and short-sightedness? They make it real hard for people to keep buying THAT story....

[bonzotex]

3. possibly intentional...

These guys really do hate government. It's hard for one thing. They suck at it is another. They want government to fail. They don't care if people die. Rich people will be OK.

All these incompetent hacks in important jobs; it's more than just payback to political pals. These cronies are there to steer government money to the "right" corporations.

I hate to be that cynical, but that's the only explanation.

[Angry Girl]

7. Oh, I totally agree with you. I was just trying to be "open minded"! :-)

[bonzotex]

9. We won't all die from bird flu, just enough...

....for Bush to declare martial law and suspend elections, put troops around the cities and scare people into submission. I don't think they even care if a million or two Americans die. It will mostly be the poor, elderly and children.

The current National Geographic has a good section on the Flu. Imagine 150 million dead worldwide in a year.

We are screwed.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

14. It's both cynical and ...

...accurate. These people would welcome a significant thinning of the population, especially among the poor and elderly. Avian flu is made to order.

[kestrel91316]

2. OMFG. We are so screwed.

Time to start saying some prayers, for all the good it will do.

[bonzotex]

4. be afraid, but also be mad...

We can take back out Nation and fix this shit. Everytime you see something like this, file it away to get pissed about when it matters.

[kestrel91316]

6. If they let bird flu H5N1 into the US and it starts killing, there won't

be any "nation" left to take back. They have got a political hack, attorney with NO medical/epidemiology background in charge of our emergency response for bird flu.

Like I said, we are SO SCREWED.

[bonzotex]

12. without the bird flu we are losing our Nation

H5N1 or the next variant won't kill everybody. It will be worse than it has to be due to republican incompetence.

I don't think they care though. Some neocons would probably just think of it as thinning the herd. They would like to see government fail and brave, selfless corporations rushing in with vaccine after only a mere few hundred thousand deaths. With people dying across the country, how much would the government pay? These guys are that sick.

[spindrifter]

5. Some of these appointments require

Congressional approval. I think we ought to start going through the Congressional Record and review the questions that were asked and who was on the review committees. Bottom line is that there are a lot of people who are sitting on their rumps letting unqualified patronage appointees take over critical positions. If the job is worth having a committee confirm an appointment, it's worth making sure qualified people are placed.
Yeah--I know what happens when an agency sits punished with a bunch of "actings" who have no authority--and that is not my objective, either.

[bonzotex]

8. good point

Democrats share some of this blame. Brownie's cakewalk confirmation comes to mind. The republicans have carried these slacker appointments to an extreme, however. How much time do lawmakers have to pour over all the hundreds of appointments? Probably there are less than 50 political appointments to Fed agencies that are really, really critical. This might be a good campaign issue.

[spindrifter]

10. Competency in Govt.

is a key campaign issue. If the rethugs wax long and loud about competency in the schools and measuring competency of children and teachers and let the parents vote with their school vouchers, then it seems that we should be demanding competent appointments and competent oversight of appointments.

[bonzotex]

11. i'm with you, this is going in my playbook for 2006 and on....n/t

[Shallah Kali]

13. We need to pressure Congress to do the right thing for once

No more crony appointments. not every state has diebold machines...

[OneBlueSky]

15. "you were expecting maybe Mickey Mantle?" . . .

forgot who said this (with a strong Jewish accent) . . . anyone remember? . . .