Editor,
One has to wonder how Michael Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was able to keep his job for as long as he did after the atrocious handling of the situation in New Orleans.
What bothers me is that he stepped down only after being asked to return to Washington. Why is it that such an important position as the director of FEMA be handed out to administration cronies? Why is this position not filled by a full-time bureaucrat with the proper training?
Positions such as the heads of FEMA, the Food and Drug Administration or the Central Intelligence Agency should be filled by a person who has a thorough background in his or her respective field. Being the head of the Arabian Horse Association hardly qualifies Brown to have been picked for such a position. The White House has already chosen a successor who has the qualifications for such a job, but why was a disaster that has claimed the lives of many needed for such a correction?
There should be a civil service exam that could be scrutinized by the public before the official is given authority. Should not all officials be given such an exam? The democratic process has shown it can pick some real winners, like Republican Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana, who is quoted in the Saturday New York Times as saying to lobbyists that public housing was finally cleaned up in New Orleans, and we couldn't do it, but God did.
Michael Searles
UNM student
