Text size:

Could Palin handle 9/11 attacks? Depends who you ask

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com

September 4, 2008

When ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said yesterday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's experience as a mayor and governor gave her the experience to handle a disaster such as the 2001 terror attacks, the comment didn't surprise the Port Authority police union president.

"9/11 helped get George Bush elected twice," said Gus Danese, head of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. "They use 9/11 for every political advantage conceivable, both Democrats and Republicans."

The attacks killed 37 Port Authority officers.

Republican Rep. Peter King of Seaford said he would have more faith in Palin taking the reins in a national disaster like 9/11 than Sen. Barack Obama. "She has leadership skills, she's a strong leader and that's what you need in a time of crisis," he said.

During an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Giuliani was asked whether he would have been confident in Palin had she been president during 9/11. He responded: "I'd be confident that she'd be able to handle it. She's been governor of a state; she's been mayor of a city."

From 1996 to 2002, the GOP vice-presidential candidate was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town with a population of 5,469 in 2000. [CORRECTION: In a story Thursday on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's public service experience, the year she became governor was incorrect. Palin took office Dec. 4, 2006. Pg. A27 ALL 9/5/08] Palin became governor in 2002. The state's population was estimated at 683,478 in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Manhattan alone had a population of more than 1.5 million in 2000.

"To equate the 'executive' experience of running a small town with less than 7,000 residents to commandeering New York City during a major terrorist attack is just nonsense and rather insulting to those of us who lived through 9/11 and have had to deal with its aftermath," said Democratic Councilman Alan Gerson, chairman of the City Council's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee.

Republicans have long criticized Democratic presidential candidate Obama for a lack of experience. Democrats argue that Republican challenger John McCain can no longer challenge Barack's experience after picking a running mate with a thin resume.

Danese said that whoever reaches the White House, it will take more than the president and vice president to help the nation through a catastrophic disaster. "With a terrorist act of that magnitude, it doesn't just land on the shoulders of one individual," he said. "Not to take anything from any politician, but I don't remember politicians going down to that pile to dig, whether it was for rescue or recovery."