I can’t add anything to this indictment of a shallow, image-conscious man in over his head. And I

don’t just mean Brownie. mjh

Winners of Katrina contracts defend deals By HOPE YEN,

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

[E]-mails show that Brown, who had been planning to step down from his post when the storm hit,

was preoccupied with his image on television even as one of the first FEMA officials to arrive in New Orleans, Marty Bahamonde, was

reporting a crisis situation of increasing chaos to FEMA officials.

“My eyes must certainly be deceiving me. You look

fabulous – and I’m not talking the makeup,” writes Cindy Taylor, FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs to Brown on 7:10

a.m. local time on Aug. 29.

“I got it at Nordstroms,” Brown writes back. “Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go

home?” An hour later, Brown adds: “If you’ll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god.”

A

week later, Brown’s aide, Sharon Worthy, reminds him to pay heed to his image on TV. “In this crises and on TV you just need to

look more hardworking … ROLL UP THE SLEEVES!” Worthy wrote, noting that even President Bush “rolled his sleeves to just below the

elbow.”