http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01598.html

Wal-Mart at Forefront of Hurricane Relief

By Michael Barbaro and Justin Gillis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; D01



At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, as New Orleans filled with water, Wal-Mart chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. called an emergency meeting of his top lieutenants and warned them he did not want a "measured response" to the hurricane.

"I want us to respond in a way appropriate to our size and the impact we can have," he said, according to an executive who attended the meeting. At the time, Wal-Mart had pledged $2 million to the relief efforts. "Should it be $10 million?" Scott asked.

Over the next few days, Wal-Mart's response to Katrina -- an unrivaled $20 million in cash donations, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals and the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers -- has turned the chain into an unexpected lifeline for much of the Southeast and earned it near-universal praise at a time when the company is struggling to burnish its image.

While state and federal officials have come under harsh criticism for their handling of the storm's aftermath, Wal-Mart is being held up as a model for logistical efficiency and nimble disaster planning, which have allowed it to quickly deliver staples such as water, fuel and toilet paper to thousands of evacuees.

In Brookhaven, Miss., for example, where Wal-Mart operates a vast distribution center, the company had 45 trucks full of goods loaded and ready for delivery before Katrina made landfall. To keep operating near capacity, Wal-Mart secured a special line at a nearby gas station to ensure that its employees could make it to work.

Wal-Mart has much to gain though its conspicuous largesse -- it has hundreds of stores in Gulf Coast states and an image problem across the country -- but even those who have criticized the company in the past are impressed.

"Wal-Mart has raised the ante for every company in the country," said Adam Hanft, chief executive of Hanft Unlimited Inc., a New York branding and marketing firm. "This is going to change the face of corporate giving."

Wal-Mart, in turn, has been showered with praise. Scott, Wal-Mart's folksy chief executive and its chief defender against a chorus of critics, has appeared on "Larry King Live" to discuss the chain's response to the storm and was singled out by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton during a joint news conference yesterday in Houston.

Clinton, who is leading a hurricane relief fundraising effort with Bush, said he hoped Wal-Mart's plan to allow relocating employees to take jobs at Wal-Marts across the country "will give some guidance to our members of Congress."

The praise comes at a time when the chain faces a series of lawsuits over allegations of wage-and-hour-law violations and gender discrimination.

But the chain's huge scale is suddenly an advantage in providing disaster relief. The same sophisticated supply chain that has turned the company into a widely feared competitor is now viewed as exactly what the waterlogged Gulf Coast needs.

The Bentonville, Ark., company is rushing to set up mini-Wal-Marts in storm-ravaged areas, handing out clothing, diapers, baby wipes, toothbrushes and food. With police escorts, it delivered two truckloads of ice and water into New Orleans. It is shipping 150 Internet-ready computers to shelters caring for evacuees.

During a tearful interview on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Aaron F. Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish in the New Orleans suburbs, told host Tim Russert that if "the American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis."

Not everything has gone perfectly for Wal-Mart. Several of its New Orleans stores were looted, and 126 of its stores in the region have been closed at some point. About 20 remain that way. "We did not try to stop the looting or take merchandise out" of the stores, company spokeswoman Mona Williams said in an e-mail.

Scott, who said he began to grasp the severity of the storm as he watched TV at home in with his wife last week, said he now participates in two daily conference calls dedicated to the hurricane, one at 7:30 a.m., the other at 5 p.m.

The challenges that arise during these calls, he said during an interview, include such matters as how to supply police officers with clean underwear and how to pay Gulf Coast Wal-Mart employees suddenly scattered across the country. "We have an infrastructure that allows us to react," Scott said last night.

Asked what motivated the chain's relief efforts and how he thought critics would respond, Scott said: "We have never claimed to be flawless. But on the other hand, we have always demanded that we as a company do care. If anything, this week has shown we do care."

He said: "We can't do any more than our own part. We are not the federal government. There is a portion we can do, and we can do it darn well."

As Katrina's winds were still dying down last week, preparations at the Brookhaven distribution center ensured that goods desperately needed by ravaged sections of the Gulf Coast started appearing on Wal-Mart shelves.

At the nearby gas station that had set up a special line for Wal-Mart workers, the general manager of the distribution center, Brent Hinton, pumped gas for nearly seven hours to keep up employee morale.

Referring to his colleagues at the distribution center, Hinton said yesterday, "We have become relief workers."

Cliff Brumfield, executive vice president of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, said he was impressed with Wal-Mart's preparations.

"They were ready before FEMA was," he said.

this statement does not absolve the government...

but walmarts entire business is based upon effiecent delivery of goods, where as the government (any government) is the model of inefficiency. Its great that Wal-Mart has used that to do good, but thats what they spend day after day doing.

This is the CEO administration

**waits for Mom & Pop stores to donate the hundreds of millions that corporations have**

Regardless of what Walmart's motives have been this past week, i still have to commend them on the work they've done. Usually i'm one of the first to cry out against them, but they've done a lot of good here.

True, but they still suck.

tell me where i can find 7 copies of Tommy Boy in one bundle for the price of 3....huh, can ya....didnt think so.

As with all charity, i dont care about motives, so long as the money and donations go to a good place.

Why the hell would you want 7 copies of Tommy Boy? Surely 1 was more than adequate?

No, it doesn't absolve the government. But here's the thing:

You all expect the government to care for everyone in America in all aspects of their lives. Whereas, some of us believe that the citizens themselves are more apt and better able to do it than the government.

<insert David's article insisting that conservatives opposed the airline security workers being covered by a government agency for the soul sake of protecting business>

I said, just yesterday, that conservatives were against it because since it was the government running homeland security and airport security, that it would inevitably suck. And it does. Chalk one up to my side. Chalk a cheap, ignorant shot up to that author and David for even posting it.

Now look here. We see the admission. The private sector focuses on efficiency, whereas the government could give two shits about efficiency because they are gonna get their money anyway. Politicians always get their money, so they will do as they see fit, as lazy as they feel. Whereas, super evil Wal*Mart, has done what the government failed to do.

But look at all these garbage threads, begging, and whining about the government. It's not about government. It was never supposed to be about government. It's supposed to be about us. Somehow the people, coming together hand in hand, neighborhood to neighborhood, community to community...that was lost. Now it's just...the government. Bloat it more. Say tax cuts cause deficits. And blame Bush for everything that goes wrong in this country because he's a convenient scapegoat.

You guys really are a barrel of laughs.

He is a convent scapegoat, I'll give you that, and he’s an easy target to shoulder all or the majority of the blame. I think it is somewhat comparable to blaming a kicker for missing a last second field goal when the offense couldn't move the ball at all during the game.

First of all, Wal Mart exists and is as large as it is because the American people shop there. And I'm not just talking a few million. Hundreds of millions of Americans have chosen to go to Wal Mart for whatever reason. This is a capitalist society with a relatively free market. If we the people didn't want Wal Mart in our neighborhoods, it wouldn't be.

Second, I agree with the above statement that government is not about efficiency. Companies pride themselves on being the fastest and most effective at X in their industry. It's how they stay in business. Unfortunately government cannot be run that way because of checks and balances...

Third, President Bush isn't to blame for everything that goes wrong. And in the same vein, he's not to be held on a pedestal for everything that goes right. This country and especially our government is so complicated that to suggest that one man or woman has sole control over all of the good or bad that happens is just nonesense. Not to mention that most laws take years to show their effects. Things that Clinton did were showing up in the first 1/2 of this President's administration. Unfortunately, the person in office is the one that gets blamed.

Finally, the government fucked up. Bush has admitted that the response could have/SHOULD have been better. Now let's get over our shit about the President and help people. I cannot believe politicians and pundits are wasting their breath and their publicity on pointing fingers. If that's all you can think of to do then let me give you another idea... shut your big face and start handing out toothbrushes and diapers. Because your political tongue lashing isn't doing anyone any good.

Well said Outsider.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050926/featherstone

The private sector focuses on efficiency only when they have an incentive to. Wal-Mart had just as much incentive to help the victims as the federal government. This has nothing to do with private/public efficiency, simply with the fact that Wal-Mart was on top of the game and didn't have Michael Brown running its relief show.

$10 says Liza Featherstone owns Wal-Mart somewhere in her 401-k plan.

Entry level employment positions do not merit healthcare, nor higher wages. What the fuck should people at Wal*Mart earn? If Wal*Mart is such an awful place to work, they wouldn't have so much ease at filling positions. This argument is like thin chicken brawth.



This wingnut is missing the point. The point is that it's not a monetary problem, it's a beauracratic problem. Throwing the government, or any agency MORE MONEY is not in any way shape or form going to force it to streamline its operations, audit itself, and function more smoothly. Why am I the only one who seems to understand this concept? Government organizations at any level are about increasing their budgets and pay rolls, which inevitably leads to innefficiency. Which is the government is unionized, and blows at everything it does. Thus failing its people. In the process creating a dependent society, which ceases to function anywhere near full capacity in any shape, manner, or form.

Here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. This is why you don't just funnel money to state legislatures via the government, just because they want it.

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH
Louisiana Officials Indicted Before Katrina Hit
Federal audits found dubious expenditures by the state's emergency preparedness agency, which will administer FEMA hurricane aid.

By Ken Silverstein and Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste, mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck.

And federal auditors are still trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998.

The problems are particularly worrisome, federal officials said, because they involve the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the agency that will administer much of the billions in federal aid anticipated for victims of Katrina.

Earlier this week, federal Homeland Security officials announced they would send 30 investigators and auditors to the Gulf Coast to ensure relief funds were properly spent.

Details of the ongoing criminal investigations come from two reports by the inspector general's office in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, as well as in state audits, and interviews this week with federal and state officials.

The reports were prepared by the federal agency's field office in Denton, Texas, and cover 1998 to 2003. Improper expenditures previously identified by auditors include a parka, a briefcase and a trip to Germany.

Much of the FEMA money that was unaccounted for was sent to Louisiana under the Hazard Mitigation Grant program, intended to help states retrofit property and improve flood control facilities, for example.

The $30.4 million FEMA is demanding back was money paid into that program and others, including a program to buy out flood-prone homeowners. As much as $30 million in additional unaccounted for spending also is under review in audits that have not yet been released, according to a FEMA official.

One 2003 federal investigation of allegedly misspent funds in Ouachita Parish, a district in northern Louisiana, grew into a probe that sprawled into more than 20 other parishes.

Mark Smith, a spokesman for the Louisiana emergency office, said the agency had responded to calls for reform, and that "we now have the policy and personnel in place to ensure that past problems aren't repeated."

He said earlier problems were largely administrative mistakes, not due to corruption.

But federal officials disagreed. They said FEMA for years expressed concerns over patterns of improper management and lax oversight throughout the state agency, and said most problems had not been corrected.

They point to criminal indictments of three state workers as evidence the problem was more than management missteps. Two other state emergency officials also were identified in court documents as unindicted co-conspirators.

"The charges were made after some very extensive reviews by FEMA investigators and other authorities, who identified issues they felt were of the severity and magnitude to refer them to the U.S. attorney's office," said David Passey, the spokesman for FEMA's regional office in Texas.

Passey, while acknowledging that the state had made some administrative changes, said it had not completed the kind of overhaul FEMA said was needed.

"It concerns us a lot. We are devoted to the mission of helping people prepare for, prevent and recover from disasters and we want these federal funds — this taxpayer money — to be spent and used well and in accordance with the rules," he said.

Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington watchdog group, said recent Louisiana history showed that FEMA "money earmarked for saving lives and homes'' was instead squandered in "a cesspool of wasteful spending."

Louisiana's emergency office receives money directly from FEMA. It passes on much of the funding to local governments that apply for assistance.

The audit reports said state operating procedures increased the likelihood of fraud and corruption going undetected.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... &cset=true

Is this Bush's fault too I wonder?