Given the disaster that was the federal government's response along the Gulf coast (FEMA regions 4 and 6), I wanted to find out what I could about how FEMA might respond in Arizona (FEMA region 9).

It seemed like a good place to start by looking up who Arizona's regional director is. Her name is Karen Armes. She's acting regional director, and apparently also her own deputy. It looks like she was originally appointed deputy in 2000, which means she's not a patronage appointee.

Unlike her boss Michael Brown, it appears that Ms. Armes does have prior managerial experience, but none in emergency management, disaster relief or crisis intervention. Her educational experience is something of a mixed bag too:

Ms. Armes holds a bachelor of science degree in recreation administration from Radford University, VA. She has also completed graduate courses in business administration at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The coursework in business administration is mildly reassuring, but how does a B.S. degree in recreation prepare this woman for whatever natural catastrophe might come our way? To be fair, she's spent most of her career in accounting and management, so she's apparently able to transfer skills from one field to another.

And incidentally, the FEMA regional senior staff in regions 4 and 6 all have training and experience in various aspects of emergency management. They all also appear to be Clinton appointees. Why weren't the appropriate regional directors given more of a leadership role in the colossal screw-up? These people not only have the experience and training, but they know the lay of the land and the cultures involved. Would Karen Armes also be told to take a back seat if a massive natural disaster struck California or Arizona?

They keep trying to shift blame to the locals, but FEMA had a local element that was all but ignored. More hypocrisy, as we've come to expect from this administration.

With all the poor people who live in this region, I'm sure we'd be left to drown too.