Cleanup man: Barbour’s disaster leadership legacy
Barbour’s leadership after Hurricane Katrina and in subsequent disasters has won significant national praise and respect even from some of his Democratic political opponents.
Governing magazine named Barbour “Governor of the Year” for his post-Katrina leadership, and he also was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Just prior to the end of the 2010 regular session of the Legislature on Wednesday, Democratic House Speaker Billy McCoy complimented Barbour during remarks to the House for leading the state’s disaster response effort and compared it to Barbour’s management of the state’s emergency response after Katrina.
“I personally salute Gov. Barbour for what he does in these tough situations,” McCoy said.
State Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said Wednesday that Barbour “in a disaster is the right man at the right time with the right plan, and I respect what he’s done.”
But not everyone agreed.
Barbour was blasted by critics like U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Gulf Coast attorney Reilly Morse over his proposed expansion of the Port of Gulfport with $570 million diverted from federal housing grants.
Waters told CBS News on Jan. 24, 2008: “I am suspicious that Barbour receives favored treatment with this (President George W. Bush’s) administration. He kind of gets his way,” Waters said.
In 2008, then-U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson signed off on Barbour’s proposal to steer the money earmarked to replenish coastal housing to port expansion. But Jackson also cited the lingering unmet housing needs, a problem exacerbated by increased insurance and rental costs in the aftermath of the storm.
Sid Salter
Clarion Ledger
5/2/10
Magnolia Tribune
