From 2002:
The assistant secretary of the Army, Mississippi's former U.S. Rep. Mike Parker, was forced out Wednesday after he criticized the Bush administration's proposed spending cuts on Army Corps of Engineers' water projects, members of Congress said.
snip
Parker earned the ire of administration officials when he questioned Bush's planned budget cuts for the corps, including two controversial Mississippi projects.
"I think he was fired for being too honest and not loyal enough to the president," said lobbyist Colin Bell, who represents communities with corps-funded projects.
Apparently the guy was criticized by environmentalists for being too interventionist, i.e. supporting big Army Corps projects, so it's not like he was some raging lefty. Now he has commented on Katrina. The article points that that the levees have been chronically underfunded.
A corps plan to shore up the levees began in 1965 and was supposed to be finished in 10 years but remains incomplete. "They've never put enough money in to complete it," Parker said. He said the corps' budget has been regularly targeted by the White House because public works projects are perceived as pork and aren't considered "sexy."
"Go talk to the people who are suffering in New Orleans," Parker said. "Ask them do they think it's pork."
Via Talking Points and Armand in DC this weekend.
UPDATE: The Washington Monthly has an timeline. Hat tip to Perrone.
Posted by binky at September 2, 2005 02:35 PM | TrackBack | Posted toParker was once the GOP candidate for governor in Mississippi - he couldn't be much further from being a lefty.
Posted by: Armand at September 2, 2005 03:37 PM | PERMALINK