Amid lawsuit, Broussard changes tune
by Meghan Gordon - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

From the first questions in September 2005 about Jefferson Parish's missing pump operators, Parish President Aaron Broussard stepped up as the chief defender of their Hurricane Katrina evacuation.

Sending them more than 100 miles from their stations might have saved their lives, he said, laying the foundation of his argument. He reasoned that the caravan of the drainage workers and 1,500 other employees to Washington Parish also ensured a backup government could return from a worst-case hurricane to resume operations.

Residents' curiosity about the plan quickly turned to a clamor for details, however, as it became apparent that the pump operators' absence led to much of the post-storm flooding in East Jefferson.

Broussard dug in.

"If that anger is focused on me, well, the buck stops here," he said in October 2005.

More than two years later, Broussard's definitive statements and declarations of accountability have been replaced with uncertain answers and denials of responsibility. The new version that emerges from his recent deposition in a potential class-action lawsuit against him personally and in his capacity as parish president portrays Broussard as a trusting delegator clueless of storm preparations, not the detail-demanding leader barking commands.