I think the Gov. should resign!!

This state has NEVER taken Emergency Management seriously. Since whoever Carcieri picks will likely be tossed out with the rest of his administration next year, I don't anticipate any qualified candidates putting their names forward.

This is a travesty!!!! The Agency finally gets someone with public service experience, attempts to get the Governor to put aside money for just this type of emergency, and THIS is the man they fire???????

Now fire the EMA guy with the same position in the city of Providence

This is sad, classic politics, Director Warren has been made a scapegoat. The emergency management system in the state was broken to nearly non-existent prior to Warren being appointed. He did much to bring the agency around but, can only go so far without adequate financial and administrative support from the governor's office.

Firing the only person capable of fixing the system will only allow the state to move backward rather than forward. Until real solutions are found, nothing will change, and another 6 INCH snowstorm will cripple the state.

This is so typical, the poor guy is being made a scapegoat by a politician who did not do his job. Hopefully some private sector employer will hire him, and frankly he will be better off not working for the state, where he served nwith the constant threat of taking the blame for someone else.

P O L I T I C S AT ITS BEST, THE GOVERNOR IS THE ONE THAT SHOULD BE FIRED, HE IS NOT DOING HIS JOB, WHEN WILL THE PEOPLE OF RHODE ISLAND WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE.

Good for Governor Carcieri. It's about time someone with a nice cushy government job was held accountable for their actions. Getting a state job is a privelege, not a right. Maybe Mr. Warren will serve as an example to other state workers that do not take their jobs seriously enough. Accountability in state government? I never thought I'd see the day.

I am really perplexed by the firing of Robert Warren. Does the governor realize that every town, city, and state in New England was in a grid lock. I traveled to Newton that day. A 45 minute drive took over 6 hours! Was Mr Warren responsible for early closure of schools? If not, doesn't the individual towns bear some responsibility for these children being on the buses for hours?

Besides, it is one week before Christmas. Very unfair!

Another failure by the Carcieri administration. The governor should be fired by the people of RI. There have been so many failures over the past five years due to his total lack of leadership it is quite remarkable. He claims to be a good business man but can't seem to get anyanything done and can't deal effectively with people. His governorship will go down as one of the least effective administrations of all time.

Classic .... Fire the guy in the middle .... meanwhile Bray (btw whats with the full camouflage? Is he getting ready if CF invades Pawtucket?) and Williams ... WHO THE GOVERNOR POINTED OUT AS IN CHARGE... SKATE ....

Vote @ www.firejeromewilliams.com

Big Kahuna

Bob Warren has done a great deal to move Rhode Island forward in emergency preparedness. His leadership at RIEMA has been positive and professional. How can you blame him for schools waiting too late to cancel classes? Is it his fault state highway dept didn't pretreat the roadways, or how about Providence EMA not knowing what was going happening in his own town, and how bout the Mayor of Providence, the Lt Gov. Lots of blame to share. The state can't just roll assets into a town without the town asking for assistance. I know Mr. Warren would have provided whatever assistance was needed...but nobody asked for it. And what about the State Police...where were they? Bob Warren is a good man that really does care about the people of Rhode Island. If you wnat to fix the problem, put the blame where it belongs...not on Bob Warren!

I left R.I. in 1979 because of the way you people run(ruin) the state. Not one thing has changed! Business as usual good luck heading back south after the holidays

i applaud holding public employees accountable - lets see more of it and less spin

What a joke!!! EMA was never activated!! He stated on the radio he talked to RI State Police and they said they had a handle on the highway problems. If Warren goes then whoever the Trooper was that gave out that information shold go too. This makes the Carcieri adminsitration look even worse when they fire someone so low on the pole and not even involved in snow removal. Governor looks just pitifull now. If the news story is correct about everything Warren has done we just lost someone who actually worked on state wide issues, not a 7" snow storm.

RI Politics at its best! Mr Carcieri, --shame on you and your administration. you would have done no better being here. It's going to be a long winter...and what about 195? in or out of the city of Providence, there are no breakdown lanes and I sat on the GW bridge for 3 hrs which is a gridlock nightmare no matter what old man winter brings. That project is a D I S A S T E R . I look forward to a fine farewell to this state and all its corruption and unfinished projects and high taxes.

This man, whose name I never even heard of until today, is a scapegoat. Did he create the storm? Didn't each individual school superintendent decide to keep school open and then decide when to close them? Could anything have been done to remove the cars stuck in snow from the roads once they hit the highway in the height of the storm? Shouldn't the DOT been in charge of plowing?

The governor is acting as if he is a man of action, he is a man of misplaced reaction!

GOV DID WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS RIGHT THEIR WERE MANY BREACKDOWN IN THE SYSTEM, THEIR ENOUGH BLAME TOO GO AROUND.THEIR NEED TO BE ACCOUNTABILITY.

If the General is the Excutive Director of RIEMA & Mr Warren was the Director, why wasn't the REAL BOSS of RIEMA fired? And keeping to true military fashion, shouldn't the chain of command also be relieved of duty (or his command)? Now what is the National Guard (A Military Organization)going to control RIEMA, which really should be under Public Safety? As for General or Excutive Director of RIEMA (which ever title you want to give him) were is ACCOUNTABILITY of HIS personnel (Troops) during this time period? This should just be another example how our State ELECTED Goverment works. But again "We The People" still allow this to happen! Maybe CHIEF Warren is alos the reason way the state is 350 million dollar in the hole and by firing him will help the State of Rhode Island save some money!! JUST FALLGUY FOR CORWARDS!!

In response to Mike's comment about government accountability: this most recent action undertaken by Governor Carcieri does nothing in terms of maintaining or initiating such accountability. Indeed, Warren here plays the scapegoat for the higher-ups in state government who have allowed this mismanaged system to emerge. After reading Carcieri's comments regarding Bray's mismanagement and the overall ineptitude of the state government (headed by a governor who was located in Kuwait, of all places), it is quite clear to anyone paying attention that the firing of Warren is non sequitur and will not effect meaningful change.

First of all he got fired for his comments on John Depetro, let's be honest. They were stupid comments too btw.
Leo Messier should go too. What a joke. No plans for snow storms but we can worry about all kinds of things never likely to happen.
Let's face it, it's really no ones fault the entire state hit the road at the same time and the snow fell that heavily. Get over it. Oh, and does anyone really believe Cicilline or Esserman will admit ANY kind of fault??? Yeah, right.

As many people are coming to realize (or will soon realize), former RIEMA Executive Director Robert Warren is the scapegoat for the everyone else who dropped the ball. He doesn't run the State DOT, and his office is a RESOURCE for the local city and towns when their capabilities are exceeded and ask for help. The main culprit I see is faulty leadership at local level:

1. Providence School Superintendent Donald Evans, at home on the East Side of Providence, while his students are stuck on the streets of Providence until 11pm. (Meanwhile, Warwick's Mayor and School Supt. are out of town yet their city's students are all home by 5:30pm, and with the SAME BUS COMPANY USED IN PROVIDENCE!) Evans said he didn't find out until 8pm when the Police Chief called him. Ummm, let's start with an easy one... Fire Donnie Evans. Give Robert Warren his job back.
2. This is the second snowstorm that Cicilline's administration has botched in the past couple of years (or did we forget already). I know the city doesn't own the highways, but it certainly is responsible for the local streets. Either find someone who knows what their doing, reconfigure the strategy or both. Fire the Public Works Director, Nickelson. Give Robert Warren his job back.
3. The Providence EMA Director, if anyone, should be fired, for his lack of foresight, oversight, or request for assistance from the state. And the Public Safety Commissioner (aka Mayor Cicilline since he refuses to hire someone with a Public Safety background into that position) should be fired for failing to provide for the public safety of the children of Providence. Fire Leo Messier AND David Cicilline. Give Robert Warren his job back.

Lastly, please fix the system of the Lame Duck Lieutenant Governor. She was here doing her best as a powerless elected leader trying to attend to the needs of her constituents, while the Governor and the power vested in him was overseas, the governor-by-proxy was his spokesperson/chief of staff/pick-your-person-of-the-day, and now after the fact a non-elected official (Gen. Bray) is the number 2 guy in the Governor's absence. General Assembly, get to work and fix this silly system. The change was instituted to accommodate Gov. Sundlun, but the system is now broken.

The only thing Warren did wrong, was answer John Depetro's question about why he went home in a way that enraged the masses (who didn't realize his job was done since nobody (specifically Providence) requested help, and that the city that could have used it the most (specifically Providence) refused it).

P.S. - Who wouldn't go home to tend to family matters in the middle of a snowstorm at the end of the day if they weren't needed at the office? Isn't that what the rest of the state was doing? Isn't that why we're having this discussion in the first place? GIVE ROBERT WARREN HIS JOB BACK

Carcieri has a habit and history of throwing people under the bus.
Nothing new here.
I think the governor should step in front of the bus and do us all a favor.

Gov. Carcieri's comments in the Journal vs. his firing the EMA Director. Actions do speak louder than words. I agree with others here that Gov. Carcieri is just using Mr. Warren as his scapegoat. A good leader would assess the situation and direct his or her employees to find a solution. Creating blame and avoiding the real issues will not fix the problem.

Our Director of E 9-1-1 has been pleading for the money approved and collected in the name of 9-1-1 since he was appointed. Money that was more than doubled to provide a more enhanced service. A enhanced service that no community will ever see because the funding for it is being channeled elsewhere. Who do you think will take the fall when problems arise in that system?

Fire the director of EMA for a small snowstorm when no funding or support was given to develop a communication system and plan of action for just this situation. HA! Next PAWN!

I wish good luck to Mr. Warren and also to the new director of EMA. I wouldn't take that job for three times the salary, it's not worth it.

All that public service experience didn't add up to a hill of beans. He forgot he wasn't in the cozy confines of the local fire department anymore.

This situation started with the ABSENCE of Gov Carceri who left the country and could not be reached by phone to deal with "what was a "Providence"problem."Section 9. If the office of the governor shall be vacant by reason of death, resignation, impeachment or inability to serve, the lieutenant governor shall fill the office of governor, and exercise the powers and authority appertaining thereto… " INABILITY TO SERVE=can not be reached. The travesty here is that the Govenor is still employed while blaming his administration for poor COMMUNICATIONS. Isn't it poor communications to leave the state and not tell anyone? Mr.Warren put RIEMA closer to compliance than any other person has. 911 calls linked the parents to the Providence police. What did the Providence police dept do to get those kids off the buses earlier? Too many questions will go probably unanswered and it will be someone eles's fault.

It is totally unfair that Mr Warren take the fall for this situation. Was he in charge of the State while the Governor was off in Iraq. As a matter of fact I understand that he left that responsibility to one of his aides. Why wasn't he dismissed, he was the the one with the responsibility to act?

Who paid for his trip to Iraq?

Here we go, blame the governor for everything. You people are ridiculous! While we're at it, let's blame President Bush, too, after all, he and the governor are both Republicans, right? There was failure all up and down the chain here, the governor was relying on his staff to the job right and quite evidently, the EMA director failed miserably doing his job. How could he have gone home and NOT have seen or known that there was a problem? I left my work place shortly after 2 PM and was hearing about the problems in Providence and I wasn't even going that way since I work in Kent County and live in Washington County. I am thankful it only took me an hour to get home. I heard more about the debacle the following day from my coworkers since many of them were stuck in it.

Who is chairwoman of the EMA? Who has not conducted a meeting of the EMA in months?.... that would be Elizabeth Roberts. She may not have had the constitutional right to run the state while the Governor was visiting our troops in Iraq, but she clearly doesn't have the ability to run our state either. As chairwoman of the EMA, not only did she have the right but the responsibility to act and act she did not!!! Can we fire her too!?!? The only person with the ability to run this state is Governor Carcieri.. as he has proven before. The rest of the pols just sit back and watch and then blame everyone but themselves... typical.

First off the GOV is a moron! and its not because he is a Rep. Im so sick of the debate of Rep vs Dem. Look what Rep did for this country the past 8 years. The fact of the matter is that he is horrible at his job. I wouldnt put him in charge of a hotdog cart. When the head of a state leaves for a week there better be a meeting before and a plan in place of who should step up if a problem arises. Its just common sense. People didnt even know this guy was gone! That puzzles me the most. That ells me he isnt around doing his job in the first place! Get this bum out of here. My 5 year old could do a better job.

The thing that upset me the most was the GOV comment it was just an inconvenience for all of us. That inconvenience cost people on the highway a few hundred dollars between the tow & gas in our cars. Nobody has an extra dime to spend when we are trying to heat our homes and feed our families. I think the GOV should pay everyone who had there cars towed because they ran out of gas sitting on the highway for six hours. And all of us tax payers should take an extra $200.00 deduction off our state taxes, lets see who will be inconvenienced then.