NY, LI leaders praised for Irene response

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and top Long Island elected officials are earning high marks for their leadership as Tropical Storm Irene cut through much of Long Island and the eastern portion of the state, analysts said.

During the build-up to the storm, they kept the public informed of preparations, helped assemble emergency response crews and, in Bloomberg's case, mandated the evacuation of 370,000 residents.

Cuomo was peripatetic. He was with National Guard troops Saturday in Manhattan and Farmingdale, at the foot of the massive Gilboa dam in upstate Schoharie County on Sunday morning and down in Long Beach that night. Monday, he flew over devastated areas of the Catskill Mountains and Mohawk Valley with federal officials.

Analysts said it's an example of the lessons all politicians are still learning from Hurricane Katrina: be present, be involved early, be in touch with what people are experiencing, and keep the public informed.

"It's not only about being there, it's about being proactive and being on top of operations," said Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College. "They have to be in command of the situation. And all of them appeared to be."

For Cuomo, this was his first natural disaster as governor. For Bloomberg, it was a chance to counteract what was widely considered his inadequate response to the blizzard this past winter. Bloomberg was hammered politically for traveling to Bermuda during that storm.

"You saw a completely different Mayor Bloomberg," said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg. "He was very hands-on. He held regular briefings. And he made the politically risky call to evacuate people . . . I think he deserves very high marks for the way he handled it."

Weather disasters create some of the highest stakes for politicians -- much greater than, say, a state budget or a tax rate, said Robert Spitzer, a political scientist at SUNY Cortland.

"It's very much where the political rubber meets the road for most Americans," Spitzer said. "They care a lot about whether their streets are plowed and whether their power and water services are delivered. When those things break down, that's when they get most upset."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano also earned praise from analysts. They cited Levy's handling of the evacuation of hospital patients and Mangano's coordinating efforts with the governor and his presence over the airwaves all weekend.

Political consultant George Arzt even said that potentially "this helps a lot" to boost Mangano's standing after losing the referendum for a new Nassau Coliseum earlier this month.

Muzzio said some might complain that political leaders overreacted to -- and were overexposed during -- the hurricane, but added: "I'm not buying it."

"When they were making decisions, this looked like a high-wind, high-rain, heavy-damage monster," he said. "This didn't turn out to be. But their policy choices were the right ones."

With Ted Phillips