When a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday advanced the nomination of a new administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it emitted a ray of hope for the idea that principled stances don't always necessitate career suicide. Considering the importance of FEMA for Louisiana, this could be very good news if, Lord forbid, a cataclysm occurs. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-4 in favor of the nomination of Cameron Hamilton for the post, and full approval is almost certain if the Senate makes time to vote before its absurdly long August 'recess.' Hamilton was the Trump administration's original 'acting' administrator of FEMA, but he was fired last May for the dreaded sin of testifying that his agency should actually continue existing. Imagine that! He had the gall to say that we need a national-government agency to handle major disasters because when states are hit by such catastrophes, the disasters by their very nature knock out all the states' pre-planned responses. That is, well, what disasters do, and it's why resources from other states and the federal government are rushed in to help: not because the affected state is incompetent, but because disasters are by definition disastrous. Apparently in Washington, such logic was a seriously endangered species. President Donald Trump had suggested a strong preference for eliminating FEMA altogether, so when Hamilton spoke up for common sense, he was canned. Thank goodness, though, that was then and this is now. To Trump's credit, the president backed off of his insistence on gutting FEMA. Instead, he appointed a review committee. That task force proposed not ending FEMA but mending it. As this newspaper editorialized in May, the task force's eventual recommendations got a lot of things right. As Trump wanted, it still devolved substantial responsibilities back to the states – but, crucially, it insisted that the worst calamities do still require a national agency to exist as a strong and nimble backstop and provider of desperately needed aid. The task force also suggested elimination of some bureaucratic hurdles and unnecessary procedures that have slowed down assistance in prior years. And more, with most of the ideas appearing to be wise ones. The mend-not-end philosophy was, in essence, what Hamilton had been proposing a year earlier. Pushed to the private sector in the meantime, Hamilton suddenly was invited back to take the very job from which he had unwisely been fired – this time, not as 'acting' but, assuming the Senate gives its expected approval, as the official administrator. The man fired for saying what he believes is being rehired because people realized what he believes actually is right. Hallelujah. But is he capable? Hamilton apparently hasn't managed responses to natural disasters before, but his experience certainly sounds impressive. A Navy SEAL for a decade, he later spent eight years as a State Department emergency management specialist and in an important supervisory role at the Department of Homeland Security. According to the New York Times, Trump officials say Hamilton performed key crisis response work and 'kept U.S. personnel and facilities safe in dangerous environments, and managed more than 4,000 emergency medical technicians and first responders.' In his confirmation hearing, Hamilton struck all the right notes: 'I believe states need to receive better customer service. I have full faith and confidence in the FEMA workforce, but we can do better…. There's a significant amount of areas where that process should be simplified, better understood and we owe you answers, I think, much faster.' Wow, what's not to like? Hamilton 'gained a lot of respect' and is 'somebody that obviously understands FEMA,' said Mark Cooper, a Bossier City native and chief of staff for former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, in a recent interview with my colleague Stephanie Grace. Cooper was a member of the aforementioned task force that recommended reforming FEMA rather than killing it. And he played a large role in convincing FEMA leaders to have a key hurricane-planning meeting in June not in DC but in New Orleans, showing that Louisiana is very much at the forefront of their thinking. Hearing of Hamilton's return from banishment, Cooper said, 'was kind of a surprise, but it was a good surprise.' There's a lesson here. Namely, it's not the end of the world if one risks one's job by abiding by one's conscience and speaking what one believes is true. More people in government and politics should do the same. There's also hope here. If the right man is on the job at FEMA, with the right plan, we in Louisiana should be able to recover more quickly no matter what ill wind might blow.