Harvey Victims Care Little About Politics or Photo Ops

An Editorial by Jerry Patterson Victims of natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey soon tire of drive by politicians seeking photo ops and press coverage while those Harvey victims live in hotel rooms and tents or camp out in the remains of their home. I know Ive been there and done that. Growing up on the Texas coast hurricanes were part of life and a source of great adventure. My Uncle Earl survived the 1900 storm. When Hurricane Carla hit Texas in 1961 I was fourteen and I remember nailing sheets of scrap plywood over smashed windows during the storm.  In 1983 I was standing in the kitchen when the ceiling fell in compliments of Hurricane Alicia. We spent weeks without power. Today looking back at those events as great adventure seems pretty damned silly. In 2008 Hurricane Ike slammed the Texas coast. Galveston and other Texas communities were hit hard. A few days later as Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office an agency with coastal responsibilities I piloted my small aircraft over Galveston Island for an aerial inspection of the damage and landed at Galvestons Scholes Field on a runway that still had some standing water. Governor Perry assigned elements of the Ike recovery effort to the Texas General Land Office. The GLO began beach and bay debris cleanup and later became responsible for housing and infrastructure recovery as well.  Over the next many months we learned a lot and made more than a few mistakes while learning. Dealing with FEMA and HUD was exasperating at times. Rules that werent clear to begin with changed and changed again. The level of federal oversight was often oppressive. Auditors auditing auditors and inspectors inspecting inspectors was the norm.  A system evolved that would spend $5 to prevent $1 of waste and I often wondered if waste fraud and abuse might be more efficient and less costly. Nonetheless in that process we put together an experienced and accomplished team of GLO Disaster Recovery team employees who knew what they were doing - and did it well. Unfortunately for victims of Hurricane Harvey the most experienced of that Disaster Recovery team didnt even make it through newly elected Land Commissioner George P. Bushs first 6 months in office. A dozen key Disaster Recovery employees were fired or left knowing they would soon be fired leaving the GLO without corporate knowledge that wouldve been invaluable responding to Hurricane Harvey. Harvey victims still living in tents along the coast are at least in part victims of a politicians desire to look good for the next election by being a small government Republican. This backfired a bit and instead of the anticipated Politician Saves Tax Dollars story the actual headlines were Land Office Spends $1 Million to Pay Ex-Workers For Not Suing Over Their Terminations (Houston Chronicle)George P. Bush reboot of Land Office has Campaign Family Ties (Fort Worth Star Telegram) and Bush Runs Land Office with Campaigners Family Friends (San Antonio Express News). The experienced help was replaced with inexperienced new hires. Conversations with local officials reveal virtually none are pleased with the GLOs Harvey housing response to date. Last week a FEMA trailer the first one provided by the GLO in Port Aransas was delivered to a family.  See the video here. A press conference was held photographs were taken and press releases were fired off.  Multiple GLO staffers were there staffers who couldve instead been taking calls from or processing applications for Harvey victims. Still waiting in line are many thousands more Texans eligible for temporary housing and I bet theyre not at all concerned about the politics  the press releases or the photo ops. Instead they just want to resume their lives as hard working tax paying Texans. When it comes to helping them do that looking good for the next election should be the very last thing on a politicians to-do list. Jerry Patterson is a former Texas state senator Texas Land Commissioner and a retired Marine Vietnam veteran. While a member of the Texas Senate he authored the Texas concealed handgun law and co-authored the Texas Coastal Management Plan. He can be contacted at jerrypattersontexas@gmail.com or 512-740-5650