At 6 feet 4 inches and 275 pounds, Allbaugh was clearly "the brawn" of the group that was later called the "iron triangle" by the national media.

A longtime comrade of George W. Bush, Allbaugh worked as then-Texas Gov. Bush's chief of staff before running the Bush's 2000 campaign, including the ruckus in Florida over the recounting of votes.

As a reward for Bush's victory, Allbaugh was named the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

From that station, Allbaugh proceeded to single-handedly attempt to destroy the agency. When Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, Allbaugh, who had resigned from FEMA in 2003, when it was folded into the Department of Homeland Security (Bush chose the inexperienced Michael "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" Brown - an Allbaugh friend - for the FEMA job), scurried off to New Orleans in search of mega-rebuilding contracts for clients of his company.

Seeking Katrina contracts

In September 2005, I wrote a piece for Media Transparency titled "Joe Allbaugh's Moneymaking Mission to the Gulf Coast" (http://old.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=84).

The storyline: Less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Allbaugh sailed into town seeking business for the Allbaugh Company - a company he co-founded with his wife, Diane. Allbaugh's mission, according to the Washington Post was "helping his clients get business from perhaps the worst natural disaster in the nation's history."

As I reported at the time, "Allbaugh told the newspaper that he was there 'just trying to lend my shoulder to the wheel, trying to coordinate some private-sector support that the government always asks for.'"

Patti Giglio, an Allbaugh spokesperson, told The Hill, "He is putting his shoulder to the wheel to mobilize the private sector, getting stuff in, getting what needs to be done done." Giglio claimed that Allbaugh was not here to help his clients secure government contracts. "The first thing he says when he sits down with a client is, 'Don't hire me if you're looking for a government contract.'"

However, as the Center for Media and Democracy's SourceWatch points out in its profile of Allbaugh, "His clients were among the first to win federal contracts to help with hurricane recovery: Shaw [Group Inc.] won a bid potentially worth $100 million to refurbish buildings and provide emergency housing, and [Halliburton Co. subsidiary] KBR received $29.8 million from the Pentagon to rebuild Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi."

The Allbaugh-Dick Cheney connection goes back some time and includes the work he did with Cheney, the former chairman of Halliburton, in vetting George W. Bush's vice presidential running mate, which of course turned out to be Dick Cheney.

Fumbling FEMA & stalking Iraq

Allbaugh's run at FEMA was controversial. SourceWatch points out that "he gained some attention that April [2001] for remarks questioning whether taxpayers should have to cover the cost of rebuilding properties that suffer repeated flood damage, just as the Mississippi River was flooding." Allbaugh told Congress that, "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective state and local risk management. Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

In September 2005, The New York Times' Paul Krugman wrote: "Undermining ... FEMA began as soon as President Bush took office" when "instead of choosing a professional with expertise in responses to disaster to head the agency ... [he] appointed ... Allbaugh ... [who] quickly began trying to scale back some of FEMA's preparedness programs."

"With FEMA under Allbaugh's watch," In These Times also pointed out in September  "White House budget director Mitch Daniels announced in April 2001 the goal of privatizing much of" the agency's work.

According to SourceWatch, "After leaving FEMA, Allbaugh has participated in numerous private ventures such as New Bridge Strategies, a private company that helps clients get contracts in Iraq."

Now called Allbaugh International Group, LLC, the Washington, D.C.-based company, according to its website (http://www.allbaugh.us/), "provides world-class emergency, security, disaster and anti-terrorism planning, management, response, recovery, economic, real estate, training and implementation services to governmental agencies, and private companies, and select individuals."

Interestingly, in a piece for The New York Review of Books, written by Joan Didion in the Fall of 2006, she reported that "In December 2002, Allbaugh announced that he was resigning from FEMA, leaving Brown in charge while he himself founded New Bridge Strategies, LLC, 'a unique company,' according to its Web site, 'that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.'"

"This was the U.S.-led war in Iraq that had not then yet begun," Didion pointed out.

Perry's new team

Perry not only has a new economic plan (another flat tax project apparently engineered by Steve Forbes), a new distraction (re-birthing the birther nonsense), and now a new team. According to ABC News' The Note, in addition to Allbaugh, who will serve as a senior adviser, team members include Fred Maas, "who has worked with John McCain and Bob Dole." Nelson Warfield, Jim Innocenzi and Curt Anderson, "who have worked on political ads in previous campaigns, are joining the campaign to help on the media side," are also joining Team Perry. The Note also reported that Tony Fabrizio, "a well-known Republican pollster who worked on Dole's 1996 campaign joins the team as well."

Warfield and Anderson's electoral record is somewhat sketchy: As The Note pointed out, "Warfield most recently worked on Fred Thompson's 2008 campaign and Bob Dole's 1996 run.  Anderson worked for Mitt Romney in 2008, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2000, and Steve Forbes in 1996."

"In 1998," according to a profile of Allbaugh at the National Corruption Index website, Allbaugh "was center stage in the Texas 'funeralgate' scandal. Eliza May, director of the state's Funeral Services Commission, charged he pressured her to drop a license investigation into SCI, the world's largest funeral company, and major Bush contributor. Instead, she fined the company $450,000, and was soon fired. May sued for wrongful discharge, and eventually won a settlement" (http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_ id=57).

In 2007, Allbaugh served as a Senior Advisor to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign, a campaign that never really got off the ground. These days, Rick Perry's campaign is in deep trouble. Whether Allbaugh can rescue it remains to be seen. One thing, however, is for sure; regardless of wherever Perry winds up "the brawn" will more than likely land squarely on his feet.