NW FEMA chief: political appointee with MBA from CA Diploma Mill.
Oh yeah, he gets $138,000 of our tax dollars.
News-Miner - Associated Press: "Regional FEMA director
SEATTLE (AP) -- The chief of the Northwest's federal disaster-response division is defending his background and job qualifications after FEMA's national director was removed from onsite command of hurricane relief efforts and questioned about his job experience.
John Pennington, who is responsible for the northwest states and Alaska, was a four-term state House Republican from Cowlitz County and running a local coffee shop when he was appointed regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He got the job with help from former U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash.
His qualifications for the job could come under question as FEMA managers are condemned and criticism builds over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. On Friday, FEMA Director Michael Brown was removed from his post overseeing relief efforts in Louisiana and ordered back to Washington, D.C.
King County Emergency Services Director Eric Holdeman is among those who have ridiculed FEMA for the lack of experience of some of its key administrators."