E-Mails Expose Katrina La. PR Woes
Governor's Office Memos Show Aides Fretted About Blanco's Appearance
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Video La. Katrina Response Exposed FEMA's response to Katrina has received nationwide attention in embarrassing detail. Now, some documents have been released about the response by the Louisiana governor's office. Bob Orr reports.
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Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (CBS)
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Mary Dake's dog keeps eye on strangers from Dake's property in Bayou Sauvage area in New Orleans, Monday, Dec. 5, 2005. Dake's house was knocked down by strong winds during Hurricane Katrina. (AP)
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Thirteen pages of e-mails sent in the immediate days after the Aug. 29 storm also reflect the Blanco administration's concerns over race relations — specifically, the number of black victims leaving Louisiana to find shelter.
A Blanco spokeswoman dismissed the race issue as the concern of just one staff member and said e-mails were plucked from among an estimated 100,000 documents — on everything from attire to how to fix the levees — that the governor gave to a special House committee investigating the government's response to Katrina. The e-mails were released by Republican aides to the committee.
One Blanco aide, press secretary Denise Bottcher, wrote on Sept. 4 that she "worried that we're doing too many 'first lady' things and not enough John Wayne. Women are easily portrayed as weak, which KBB (Blanco) has a hard time over coming (sic)."
It's not clear whether Blanco ever saw or responded to any of the e-mails, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.
Read the E-Mails (PDF)In a Sept. 4 e-mail exchange, top Blanco aides bristled at Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's remark that the federal government "is in control of New Orleans."
"Our answer is the National Guard is in charge of security under her direction," Blanco chief of staff Andy Kopplin wrote. "The mayor is in charge of the city. The governor is in charge of the state and the guard and security. The federal government is now meeting important missions that it has."
The next day, two Blanco press staffers appealed to other senior aides to stop travel that would have had the governor leaving the state on a day when President Bush was scheduled to be there.
"Reinforces the notion that she's not in charge and LA (Louisiana) needs to be federalized," wrote Bottcher in a Sept. 5 e-mail.
"We need everything you've got," Blanco wrote to Mr. Bush on Aug. 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina struck.
Agreed Blanco communications director Bob Mann: "White House will be thrilled that she left the state. They will eat us for lunch. She cannot snub potus."
"Potus" stands for "president of the United States."
Included in the pile of documents was a simple plea to President Bush from Blanco, CBS News Radio's Dan Raviv reported earlier this month.
Aides also had concerns about Blanco's physical appearance and discussed ways to make her look strong but compassionate. Their ideas, according to the e-mails, included having Blanco "put a few bags of ice in the hands of the citizens who need it."
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