Emanuel Calls on Chertoff to Re-Evaluate Brown Contract

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) released the following letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking him to re-evaluate FEMA’s contract with former director Michael Brown. 

Dear Secretary Chertoff:

I applaud your comments yesterday on re-evaluating Gulf Coast reconstruction contracts.  Given this country’s fiscal crisis and reports of widespread abuse by contractors, accountability must rank among our highest priorities.  I trust that yours was not a hollow promise and urge you to immediately audit each and every contract, including the contract for former FEMA director Michael Brown. 

Michael Brown resigned as director of FEMA after reports of his incompetence surfaced.  Today it is clear that much of the government’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina was a result of Brown’s leadership.  For these reasons I was shocked to discover Brown had been retained by FEMA as a consultant investigating his own performance.  The American people need to know what went wrong and Michael Brown is not qualified to find the answers.  His contract should be terminated immediately and Brown should forfeit any compensation he has received as a result of this contract.  Yesterday you said, “If there are contracts that turn out to be not properly cost-effective or inappropriate in some other way, we can redo the contracts.”  I fail to see how the taxpayers benefit by keeping Brown on the payroll. 

To date Congress has appropriated tremendous sums to restore the Gulf Coast.  That was the right thing to do.  But, it’s just as important to ensure that each and every dollar allocated goes toward recovery and is not wasted.  I welcome your comments to review reconstruction contracts and trust that you will begin to do so immediately with the contract for Michael Brown.

Sincerely,

Rahm Emanuel
Member of Congress