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By Page W. H. Brousseau IV
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Dr. Repic from the Earth and Resource Science Department began the discussion with a presentation of the ecological and environmental factors that produce hurricanes. According to Repic, the last major storm season was 1930-1960 and 2005 is merely the beginning of the next storm season. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration predicts this year's storm season to have a 95%-100% chance of being above a normal storm season. Above average surface temperatures feed hurricanes prior landfall.

Dr. Price from Political Science addressed the issue of blame. By far, the most contentious issue surrounding Hurricane Katrina is who is to blame. Local, state and federal agencies and officials continue to pass blame for inadequate preparation and response. Just last week, former FEMA chief Michael Brown said before Congress that his agency was incapable of dealing with the incompetence of the State of Louisiana. He found himself quickly rebuked by the Congressional delegation from the Creole State.

Price said it was an issue of public policy on three levels: misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance.

The misfeasance was, "The inability to predict what was to happen with communication." Communication between agencies collapsed in three ways. First, phone lines went down. Second, cell phone towers suffered immensely from the 150 mph winds, rendering the phones useless. Finally, walkie-talkies had low battery life, and means of recharging were absent.

Misfeasance was the direct result of poor planning and not foreseeing circumstances.

Nonfeasance was the failure of leadership at all levels. The New Mexican Governor prepared his state's National Guard for deployment to the hurricane zone prior to the destruction. No one from Louisiana made contact with the New Mexican Guard until that Tuesday, three days after Katrina hit.

Governor Blanco of Louisiana told President Bush to, "Send me everything you have." The federal government still failed to act because state officials failed to request specific numbers of generators and other emergency equipment. Price said the days following the hurricane was, "Not a good example of what government can and should do." He pointed to the cronyism of the appointment of Brown as FEMA director, "This is what happens when people don't take government seriously or don't take the role of government seriously."

He continued to say this is where leadership could cut through the bureaucratic red tape. Many consider the federal government and real leadership was missing until Lt. General Honore stepped off the helicopter, cigar in hand, complaining about "too many people stuck on stupid."

The final category Price mentioned was malfeasance. Malfeasance would be criminal neglect in the evacuation, rescue efforts and recovery. At this early stage, there is no evidence federal, state, or local officials acted in a criminal manner. Congress is debating the best way to investigate Hurricane Katrina. Republicans favor a joint select committee, in the vein of the Iran-Contra Committee. Democrat leadership is boycotting the committee in favor of an independent commission, much like the 9/11 Commission.

Dr Lutzker from Economics estimated the cost of rebuilding at $300 billion. For funding the price tag, he pointed to the $1.3 trillion in tax cuts the Bush Administration has singed off on since 2001. He said the last option should be spending cuts, the "Reason we have government is not just the military, there are actually other things government does."

Lutzker took issue with no bid contracts favored by the Bush Administration. Many of the contract holders have no interest in keeping costs down or paying high wages. In dealing with wages, he called the Bush decision to repeal the Davis-Beacon Act as, "Not only morally bankrupt but economically foolish."

The Davis-Beacon Act is a Depression Era law requiring companies contracted by the federal government to pay the "prevailing" wage to their employees. The prevailing wage in the Gulf Coast is $9 an hour. Many Republicans believe the Davis-Beacon Act is a backdoor way to insure construction projects are being carried out by only union workers, thus driving up the costs for many projects.

Furthermore, Lutzker took into account of what he called a, "Laboratory for conservative social experiments." Conservative ideas such as Enterprise Zones are programs that target specific areas for development by waiving business regulations which some say lead to pollution and unsafe working conditions. Republican leaders have embraced the idea of having the opportunity to implement many conservative ideas into action. With a Republican Congress and White House, any expectation that they would turn to liberal ideas in social theory is hardly realistic.

The macro-economic impact may be stagflation, which is where the economy goes down but prices continue to go up. The dangers of stagflation appear real, as the economy grew over the past year, family income failed to keep pace and the number of people in poverty increased.

Dr. Aiyer from the Anthropology Department discussed urban policy. He said the cause of the social aftermath was because of the, "Twenty-five years of neglect by both Democrats and Republicans." He said Democrats divide the poor into the "deserving poor and undeserving poor."

Aiyer produced the most cheered response of the afternoon from the crowd. When talking about political neglect he said, "Republicans are more or less clear they hate the poor." This produced enthusiastic clapping from the students and high school teachers, and in the back of the Kiva people stomped their feet. There was no mention as to which actions of the Republican Party he was referring. Without backing up his point, he came across as a partisan hack basing his argument on urban legend, and not fact.

The panel ended with Dr. Thomas from the Sociology Department. He said race was very much a factor in the evacuation (most whites had transportation) and the rescue effort (he quoted a Newsweek interview of a ferryboat operator saying he only was rescuing white people).

"Would help come quicker if more victims were white?" he asked the audience. Then he suggested that help would have come quicker if it were an election year. In 2004, a series of devastating hurricanes rocked Florida.

Almost immediately last year, the President and FEMA assets were on the ground with help and resources of the federal government. Multiple media establishments have pointed out similar discrepancies between 2004 and 2005.

The overall question remains: What happened? Why such a difference from Mississippi to Louisiana? Both states, after all, are among the poorest in the nation. What happened to FEMA? Just last year FEMA was applauded by Florida residents for helping the state deal with four hurricanes and 117 deaths last year. However, the Homeland Security Department Inspector General audit revealed FEMA overpaid some victims. The IG report also stated $31 million went to residents of Miami-Dade County, a county that sustained very little in damage. Why did it take further nonfeasance of FEMA before there was a leadership change?

Media and Congressional investigations are bound to raise more questions before answering the many already asked. The panel helped raise awareness of the issues that are necessary to confront in order to avoid a repeat of Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

© The Michigan Times 2005