Why FEMA Failed: The Bush Administration and Disaster Relief

Politicizing Disaster Relief: How FEMA Overcompensated Florida Citizens in the Run-Up to the Presidential Election
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We look at FEMA's disaster response in Florida in the fall of 2004, and how the presidential election played a role in the distribution of hurricane aid there. As FEMA comes under increasing scrutiny for its role in handling the New Orleans disaster, its response has not always been so sluggish.

In the fall of 2004, with the presidential election on the horizon, the key battleground state of Florida was facing its second hurricane in less than a month.

In response, FEMA awarded millions of dollars in disaster funds to residents of Miami-Dade County, even though the area did not experience hurricane conditions.

FEMA officials, the governor and the White House steadfastly denied suggestions that politics played a role in the distribution of hurricane aid in Florida.

But records contained in hundreds of pages of e-mails of Governor Jeb Bush suggest otherwise. According to the documents, a federal consultant to FEMA predicted that a disaster could reflect poorly on President Bush and suggested that his re-election staff be brought in to minimize any political liability.

* Megan O'Matz, a reporter with the South Florida Sun- Sentinel which first obtained the records and broke the story.

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