Whatley screwing up task Trump assigned him

Hurricane Helene recovery czar Michael Whatley is blaming Democrats for the growing chorus of criticism over his job performance — but in heavily Republican Western North Carolina, it’s not just Democratic voices calling for Whatley to be replaced or step down.[…]

Let’s see.  The GOP controls the federal government’s executive branch and all of its associated bureaucracies. There are GOP majorities in both chambers of the Congress.  And it’s THE DEMOCRATS’ fault ????

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[…] “It’s kind of funny to say ‘step down,’ because I never saw him step up,” said Margaret Ackiss, a member of the North Carolina Republican Party’s 11th Congressional District executive committee.

On Sept. 27, 2024, Hurricane?Helene inflicted what is estimated to be roughly $60 billion in damage across Western North Carolina, including the destruction and partial loss of thousands of homes — more than 73,000 at last estimate — and over 1,300 roads and bridges. Six months after the storm , local governments in Western North Carolina reported receiving little or no federal reimbursement, with only 4% of needs met. More recently, near the one-year anniversary, Gov. Josh Stein said that figure had grown to 9%.

In an audio clip of a brief exchange recorded at a recent event provided to The Smoky Mountain News, Whatley, who President Donald Trump placed in charge of Helene recovery and “making sure everything goes well” back on Jan. 24, acknowledged the criticism.

“What they’re trying to say is that the president has not done a good job in terms of recovery, and therefore I’ve not done a good job,” Whatley said on the tape. “The fact is, $6.5 billion in relief [is what] we’ve brought into North Carolina since President Trump was sworn in.”

Local governments, homeowners and small businesses, however, are still waiting on the remaining $54 billion, nearly nine months after Whatley’s appointment as recovery czar.

Whatley’s recorded comments came after more than 120 people from 17 counties across the Helene-impacted region signed a letter demanding Whatley be removed from his position.

“Michael Whatley has failed us and forgotten about us,” the letter states. “We have spoken out for months, because we simply cannot stay silent and let his failure continue to hurt our communities. Both Democrats and Republicans have called out the sluggish response. It’s clear that Whatley just isn’t up to the task.”

Addressed to FEMA Review Council co-chairs Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth, the letter accuses Whatley of “failing to deliver pre-approved, promised federal relief funds” and “forgetting about” the communities he was appointed to help. It cites sluggish federal reimbursements, lingering infrastructure damage and a lack of public engagement from Whatley as reasons for their discontent.

In September, during his first known visit to the region since his appointment — a meeting of the FEMA Review Council that wasn’t open to the public or the press — Whatley told Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate WLOS he felt recovery was “going really well at this point.”

The FEMA Review Council, established by Trump on the same day he appointed Whatley, is a collection of state and federal leaders charged with presenting a report to the president containing recommendations for FEMA reform. The report is due within 180 days of the council’s first meeting on May 4 — mid-November — but Whatley indicated that like recovery efforts in general, that report is also running behind.

“We’re going to wrap up the report to the president in December,” Whatley is heard to say on the recording. “Frankly, you know, the people that are calling on me [to step down] like you said, are the Democrats.”

Ackiss, a lifelong Republican who only recently saw the letter but would have signed it had she known about it, said that Helene recovery should be a non-partisan issue and that Whatley’s attempt to blame Democrats isn’t reflective of Appalachian values.

“This is a human issue. I have friends on both sides of the aisle, although I’m a Republican. When catastrophes happen, I don’t care what party you’re in — we help the people on the ground,” said Ackiss, who claims 10 generations of roots in the region. “To me, it was completely disappointing to see Michael Whatley and many others who espouse themselves to be Republicans not step up and help the people involved in this.”

[…] On Oct. 21, Whatley spoke with The Smoky Mountain News as he was on his way to a meeting with Department of Homeland Security officials about Helene recovery. He said he was aware of the letter calling for his ouster.

“I’m disappointed,” he said of the letter, “because what we’re trying to do is make sure that we are getting relief into Western North Carolina, and I’m surprised that people would not want somebody to help champion that cause.” 

Whatley argued that the federal response has been stronger than critics acknowledge, citing the $6.5 billion in federal relief already delivered to North Carolina as the most ever provided to the state after any storm. He broke that figure down into specific streams — $440 million from the EPA for wastewater and water treatment systems, more than $1 billion in block grant funds from the Department of Transportation and housing assistance through HUD.

“The President was very clear when he came to North Carolina in January and in October and said that he is not going to forget Western North Carolina,” he said. “The response that we have seen from the federal government so far has been a very major response. We are seeing roads that have been rebuilt, bridges that have been rebuilt, the debris has been for the most part completely removed, streams and waterways have been cleared and we are seeing construction on wastewater and drinking water systems. There has been a very major effort, but it is going to take years for Western North Carolina to recover.”

Pressed on why that total still represents only a fraction of the state’s estimated damage, Whatley said it’s unrealistic to expect full reimbursement from Washington.

“The federal government is not going to be fully reimbursing for 100% of damage caused by any type of major catastrophe,” he said. “The states and the local governments do have a major role there, as well as private insurance. I think that they’re trying to say that 100% of all estimated costs have to be borne by the federal government. That’s not how that has happened traditionally in storm recovery.”

“He also cited recent examples of bipartisan, localized, targeted relief, such as $10 million released to Asheville’s beleaguered water system — for a $23 million project with an $11.3 million FEMA ask, according to Whatley’s campaign — and additional money for reopening sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Whatley added.

While conceding that “there are improvements that need to be made,” he said the Trump administration’s creation of the FEMA Review Council is intended to correct past inadequacies and streamline future responses. Even though they won’t likely help Helene victims, they could help victims of future disasters recovery more quickly, Whatley said.

“What we saw in the immediate aftermath of that storm from the Biden administration and FEMA as well as Gov. Cooper, was an inadequate response,” he said. “What the president wants to do, and what I want to do, is make sure we have a much better response going forward.”[...]

Wait. SO this job he got appointed to is NOT actually about helping western North Carolina ????   (*Good to know.*)