When the floodwaters spread across Wisconsin, state officials begged for help from Washington, but it's safe to say that none of them expected it would arrive by Greyhound bus at 3 a.m., wearing ostrich-skin cowboy boots and missing a suitcase. But then, few in Wisconsin or Washington knew James Lee Witt.
A native of Wildcat Hollow, Arkansas, Witt, 49, had only three months earlier taken charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, long derided as a dumping ground for political hacks and feckless bureaucrats. Most recently, FEMA was blamed for mishandling relief efforts after Hurricane Andrew. Witt has brought to the...
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