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227:, which led to further criticism of FEMA) had said, "FEMA is widely viewed as a political dumping ground, a turkey farm, if you will, where large numbers of positions exist that can be conveniently and quietly filled by political appointment ..." The comment had been provoked by the appointment of Wallace Stickney, described in the report as "weak" and "uninterested in the substantive programs of FEMA" owing his post to his relationship with former White House Chief of Staff
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200:. He and Clinton met as boys in Little League. He founded a construction business in 1968. At 34, he was elected County Judge of Yell County. Witt was re-elected to the post six times and was recognized by the National Association of Counties for his work. Witt was a charter Board Chairman of Child Development Inc., which works to advance
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By August 2007, Witt was serving on the management team of Global
Options Group LLC and as President of James Lee Witt Associates LLC, which provided consulting on emergency and disaster preparedness to local and state governments. In 2013, the firm merged with O'Brien's Response Management to become
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experience. He stopped the staffing of the agency by political patronage. He removed layers of bureaucracy. Most important, he instilled in the agency a spirit of preparedness, of service to the customer, of willingness to listen to ideas of local and state officials to make the system work better."
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In 1988, shortly after being reelected county Judge, an administrative position he had held for ten years, Witt was appointed by then-Governor Bill
Clinton to be the head of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services. There he reorganized the state's emergency management process. Clinton subsequently
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editorial said, "FEMA has developed a sterling reputation for delivering disaster-relief services, a far cry from its abysmal standing before James Lee Witt took its helm in 1993. How did Witt turn FEMA around so quickly? Well, he is the first director of the agency to have emergency-management
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moved the new Fire
Protection Services Program to OES, including the board and the grant program, which was administered in conjunction with the state Insurance Department."
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In 2016, Witt formed Witt Global
Partners, a Little Rock-based Government Relations and Disaster Consulting Firm. Witt is the CEO and Managing Partner of the firm.
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Witt Global
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hired his firm to prepare, process, and recover claims for damages from FEMA related to natural disasters. Witt served as CEO of the
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During his tenure Witt was able to overcome FEMA's previously poor reputation. A 1992 interim report by the
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in more than 6,500 counties and in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Witt supervised the response to the
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and is often credited with raising the agency's level of professionalism and ability to respond to disasters.
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When
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in 1997 but took himself out of consideration and stayed at FEMA until he was replaced by
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393:(Press release). Federal Emergency Management Agency. 1996-02-26. Archived from
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Witt|O'Brien's, with Witt as
Executive Board Chair. In 2015, it was acquired by
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Witt's eight-year term in office saw approximately 348 Presidentially declared
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391:"President Clinton Raises FEMA Director to Cabinet Status"
318:. On November 4, 2014 Witt lost the race to GOP candidate
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Director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy
341:"Is Arkansas Still Friendly to Bill? Clinton Tests It"
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took office in 1993, raised to cabinet-rank in 1996
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Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
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http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
172:(born January 6, 1944) is a former director of the
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514:"Witt announces for Arkansas seat - POLITICO"
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457:"Witt O'Brien's/Seacor: About Us"
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139:
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107:(age 80)
97:
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88:
84:
78:
75:
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66:
63:
59:
53:
48:
45:
40:
36:
32:
27:
20:
1668:. Retrieved
1664:
1654:
1637:
1625:John Podesta
1613:Leon Panetta
1607:Mack McLarty
1582:Lee P. Brown
1565:(1993–2001)*
1562:
1544:Aida Álvarez
1538:Philip Lader
1513:Janet Yellen
1426:George Tenet
1389:Alice Rivlin
1383:Leon Panetta
1230:Andrew Cuomo
1180:Robert Reich
1124:Dan Glickman
1024:Robert Rubin
960:(1993–2001)
930:Bill Clinton
881:
856:
838:
825:
755:
750:
742:
729:
721:
708:
695:
687:
674:
666:
592:
547:
536:
528:
517:
508:
496:. Retrieved
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432:
428:
418:
410:
399:. Retrieved
395:the original
385:
375:
367:
356:. Retrieved
344:
334:
322:53.7-42.6%.
304:Joe Allbaugh
297:
289:
281:
259:
243:
235:
234:By 1996, an
233:
222:
215:
211:
187:
178:Bill Clinton
169:
168:
138:Witt's voice
72:Succeeded by
65:Bill Clinton
51:
1691:1944 births
1627:(1998–2001)
1621:(1997–1998)
1615:(1994–1997)
1609:(1993–1994)
1590:(1996–2001)
1584:(1993–1996)
1546:(1997–2001)
1540:(1994–1997)
1521:(1999–2001)
1515:(1997–1999)
1509:(1995–1997)
1503:(1993–1995)
1501:Laura Tyson
1484:(1999–2001)
1478:(1997–1998)
1472:(1993–1997)
1453:(1996–2001)
1447:(1993–1996)
1428:(1996–2001)
1422:(1995–1996)
1403:(1998–2001)
1397:(1996–1998)
1391:(1994–1996)
1385:(1993–1994)
1366:(1993–2001)
1332:(1998–2000)
1326:(1993–1997)
1324:Jesse Brown
1307:(1993–2001)
1288:(1998–2001)
1282:(1997–1998)
1276:(1993–1997)
1257:(1997–2001)
1251:(1993–1997)
1232:(1997–2001)
1226:(1993–1997)
1207:(1993–2001)
1188:(1997–2001)
1182:(1993–1997)
1163:(2000–2001)
1157:(1997–2000)
1151:(1996–1997)
1145:(1993–1996)
1126:(1995–2001)
1120:(1993–1994)
1101:(1993–2001)
1082:(1993–2001)
1063:(1997–2001)
1057:(1994–1997)
1051:(1993–1994)
1032:(1999–2001)
1026:(1995–1999)
1020:(1993–1994)
1001:(1997–2001)
995:(1993–1997)
932:(1993–2001)
563:Appearances
218:U.S. Senate
1685:Categories
1080:Janet Reno
605:John Magaw
599:1993–2001
498:14 October
401:2010-03-03
358:2016-10-12
326:References
204:programs.
202:Head Start
194:Dardanelle
184:Early life
126:Democratic
101:1944-01-06
77:John Magaw
23:James Witt
1143:Ron Brown
1118:Mike Espy
1049:Les Aspin
927:President
704:Giuffrida
697:McConnell
689:Gallagher
655:Directors
353:0362-4331
61:President
52:In office
1401:Jack Lew
865:Criswell
821:Paulison
805:Paulison
764:Allbaugh
738:Stickney
731:Jennings
519:Politico
115:Arkansas
80:(Acting)
958:Al Gore
943:Cabinet
923:Cabinet
744:Tidball
668:Vickery
1670:3 June
964:tenure
858:Fenton
852:Gaynor
840:Fenton
834:Fugate
723:Morris
717:Becton
710:Morris
609:Acting
587:Acting
567:C-SPAN
470:"Home"
351:
285:SEACOR
117:, U.S.
800:Brown
757:Magaw
676:Casey
662:Hafer
196:, in
111:Paris
1672:2015
847:Long
827:Ward
751:Witt
683:Macy
500:2013
349:ISSN
312:2014
95:Born
925:of
565:on
417:,
314:in
1687::
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879:*
535:,
516:.
491:.
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347:.
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287:.
231:.
113:,
103:)
1674:.
915:e
908:t
901:v
861:*
843:*
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760:*
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713:*
700:*
692:*
679:*
671:*
640:e
633:t
626:v
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361:.
99:(
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