I Told You So

Remember my ranting about a guy named Marty who did the initial damage assessment in New Orleans and reported back to Nagin?

That was one Marty Bahamonde who testified before Congress yesterday

Bahamonde had just learned, as he huddled in New Orleans’ Superdome with evacuees, that Brown’s press secretary was fretting about blocking out time for the director to eat dinner at one of Baton Rouge’s busy restaurants that night.

“OH MY GOD!!!!!!!” Bahamonde messaged the co-worker. “I just ate an MRE” ? military rations ? “and crapped in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy restaurants

I’d done a FOIA request, but apparently that was unnecessary.

I’d just like to point out that I said this guy was the key to the story since a couple days after Katrina hit. I’d don’t do much blog triumphalism, but in this case I was ranting to anyone who would listen that this guy was the key to understanding the entire situation in New Orleans.

He’s also a career civil servant and did his job. He deserves our thanks.