AGA's newsletters will return on July 13 with AGA Today.

Thank you to everyone who supported the New Orleans PDC! See you next year in Orlando, FL, July 11–14. 2010.

Thank You To Our Sponsors!

AGA extends a special "thank you" to our sponsors for their generous support of PDC 2009. We appreciate all you have done to help make this event possible!

PLATINUM
Grant Thornton LLP Global Public Sector

Teradata Corporation

GOLD
Accenture

CGI

Deloitte.

Ernst & Young LLP

Kearney & Company

Oracle USA, Inc.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Visa Inc.

SILVER
Altum, Inc.

Clifton Gunderson LLP

IBM Global Business Services

KPMG LLP

SAP Business Objects

BRONZE
Booz Allen Hamilton

The MIL Corporation

BRASS
Savantage Solutions

The Graduate School, USDA

June 25, 2009 • Special PDC Edition

Katrina General on the Value of Preparedness
The final day of the New Orleans PDC began with an often-comical presentation by Gen. Russel Honoré, USA (Ret.), Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina and Current CNN Contributor, who discussed the concept of “See First, Understand First, Act First: Leadership and Preparedness in the 21st Century.”

Honoré began his talk by addressing the good work being done in government by many in the audience. “Thank God for what you do for our country—you check our books,” he said, adding his voice to a chorus of people who have thanked AGA for coming to The Big Easy as it continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina. “You have brought work to New Orleans.”

The key focus of Honoré’s presentation was the concept of preparedness. “It will save you and your family’s life,” he said. If you don’t have a weather radio, he said, get one. A weather radio will wake you up in the middle of the night if a tornado or natural disaster warning is issued while you sleep. “Preparedness,” he acknowledged, “is hard to sell.” Read more.

Strange Bedfellows: Matalin and Carville Face Off at the PDC
Mary Matalin and James Carville, married pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum, entertained attendees of AGA’s PDC Wednesday morning with their observations on President Obama’s term so far and the Washington political environment.

Matalin, a Republican political consultant, discussed the contradictory facts that while Barack Obama enjoys huge popularity, support for his specific policies is weakening. She said Obama came into office with public adulation, followed by a phase of “precipitous polarization” and now the public and the press are starting to truly evaluate Obama as a president and not just as a charismatic figure.

While his personal popularity is at least twice as high as his predecessors--even Bill Clinton--support is falling off on issues such as health care reform, as the American public is concerned about the costs and the size of government. People want smaller government and fewer services, and they don’t want debt or high taxes, she said. Read more.

PDC Concludes With Recovery Act Panel
The final session of AGA’s PDC Wednesday featured a panel discussion on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with experts from federal, state and local governments giving varying perspectives on the Act’s risks and challenges.

The panelists highlighted their observations, concerns and hopes for success with presentations by Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, Georgia State Auditor Russell Hinton, CGFM, CPA, and City of Tallahassee Auditor Sam McCall, Ph.D., CGFM, CPA, CIA, CGAP.

Devaney, who has a 39-year federal career and is on leave as inspector general of the Department of the Interior, said that while he had planned to retire after 40 years of service, when Vice President Joe Biden asked him to take on the chairmanship, he could not say no to what is “a grand experiment” in transparency and accountability. Read more.

PDC reporting by Christina M. Camara and Marie S. Force
Photos by Jennifer I. Curtin
Website support by April Force Pardoe

© Association of Government Accountants 2009

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