NBC reports today results of eight months of looking into the billings by Arkansas native and former FEMA chief James Lee Witt’s consulting firm for handling Hurricane Katrina work in Louisiana. The lead:
In the traumatic days after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco turned to one of the most respected names in emergency management: James Lee Witt, the so-called Master of Disaster. But an eight-month investigation by NBC News into the performance and billing practices of Witt’s firm, James Lee Witt Associates, raises questions about profiteering, cronyism and possible falsification of records by one of Witt Associates’ subcontractors.
Much of the attention focuses on huge billing ($90,000 in one month) by top manager Mark Merritt, a long-time friend of the Witt family, and a Dardanelle-based recovery firmed headed by Merritt’s parents. The reporting questions the number of hours billed by Merrit and the 100 percent markup of the cost of work by his parents’ company and includes an allegation by one worker of padded timesheets. The Louisiana Ethics Board has cleared the arrangement of a subcontract with a firm headed by relatives of one of Witt’s managers, but I don’t this eliminates the odor.
Witt defends his firm’s markups and the amount of hours billed by Merritt. But further investigation seems certain in Louisiana. Witt’s reputation seems likely to take further tarnishing.
UPDATE: The Witt Associates formal response is on the jump.