Does the name Tommy Flanagan ring a bell? He was the pathological liar played by Jon Lovitz in the late 80s version of “Saturday Night Live.” He would just make up patently false statements as he went along and would spike them with the catch phrase “Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
Reading about FEMA director Michael Brown today brought back memories of lying Tommy Flanagan.
First came from reading the “Time” magazine story which uncovers Flanagan, er, Brown perhaps “padded” his resume a bit. Among that padding is reportedly this from his official FEMA bio:
“His background in state and local government also includes serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight … “
Well, his old boss and former Edmond, Okla., city manager said Brown was actually an assistant to the city manager, not an assistant city manager. He was in fact a college intern, according to the Time story.
“Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University,” recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. “Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I’d ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt.”
He was always wearing a suit and a starched shirt. Well there you go. That’s the ticket!
Brown apparently had other instances of “padding,” the Time story went on to say. But you have to hand it to Brown, he is a leader of such genius that not only can he spin a web of yarn but gets his PR flak to say the allegations of his resume padding are lies, vicious lies.
” … Nicol Andrews, deputy strategic director in FEMA’s office of public affairs, insists that while Brown began as an intern, he became an “assistant city manager” with a distinguished record of service. “According to Mike Brown,” she says, “a large portion [of the points raised by TIME] is very inaccurate.”
He also ran a 2-minute mile, played defensive end for Kansas City and dated Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Not only did his own PR flak provide him cover, so did the president’s top PR man, Scotty (I know noth-ing) McClellan. I give you this from today’s White House press briefing:
“Q Has Mike Brown resigned?
MR. McCLELLAN: No.
Q Has the President asked for his resignation today?
MR. McCLELLAN: No.
Q Does the President have full faith and confidence in Mike Brown?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, what we are continuing to do is to support those in the region who are carrying out the operational activities. We continue to appreciate the work of all those who have been working round-the-clock.”
An hour later it was time for Brown’s boss, Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, to make the truth sound a lot better than it actually is:
“The effort to respond and recover from Hurricane Katrina is moving forward. We are preparing to move from the immediate emergency response phase to the next phase of operations. Importantly, we must have seamless interaction with military forces as we move forward with our critical work in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. At the same time, we are still in hurricane season and need to be prepared to deal effectively with the possibility of future hurricanes and other disasters.
“Therefore, I have directed Mike Brown to return to administering FEMA nationally, and I have appointed Vice Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard as the Principal Federal Official (PFO) overseeing Hurricane Katrina response and recovery effort in the field.”
Just like GW said last week, you’re doing a heck of a job Brownie.
Wait that sounds a little like Brownie was sacked. Yeah. That’s the ticket.