Hurricane Irene: The Governor wasn’t a prick this time. Well, maybe just a little bit…

By Dan Jacobson, also published in the September 1, 2011 edition of the triCityNews

 

A couple months ago, the Star-Ledger – the state’s largest newspaper – quoted Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney calling Republican Governor Chris Christie a “prick”.

 

In a front page story, no less!

 

Obviously, that means the p-word is now fair game to attach to our state’s Chief Executive. A big event in New Jersey journalism history. Who’s to argue with the Star-Ledger?

 

So with Hurricane Irene now past, let’s look at the Governor’s handling of the crisis. But that actually starts with Christie’s response to the December 2010 blizzard.

 

In that case, the Governor was a prick. A complete and total jerk-off. Christie was on vacation in Florida – in Disneyworld, appropriately enough – and he refused to come back until he was good and ready.

 

Meanwhile, the rest of us were trapped here by a disastrous emergency management response. Roads weren’t cleared for days. The whole system collapsed. Monmouth County couldn’t move. It was downright scary.

 

Christie’s actions were a disgrace. We called on the Democrats in the state legislature to hold hearings on this prick’s conduct, complete with subpoena power, to determine who did exactly what. Man, we were pissed. Seriously. This was a matter of life and death.

 

Because an even more severe natural disaster, or – God forbid – a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction, would have made that December blizzard look like a beautiful day on the beach in Asbury Park.

 

Of course, the legislature – even one controlled by the opposition Democrats – did nothing. What a bunch of bozos.

 

But now it’s time to give the Governor credit: he was excellent during Hurricane Irene. Gone was the prick who wouldn’t cut short his Florida vacation. (Then again, Christie wasn’t on vacation when Irene hit.)

 

This Publisher was tremendously impressed by the Governor’s command of detail during his Irene press conferences. For the first time I saw that he’s actually a very smart guy. I didn’t know he was at that level. At one point, I even thought to myself that I could never handle the situation that well.

 

But then I quickly got a hold of myself: Of course I could do it.

 

Anyway, my capabilities are irrelevant. I’m not Governor. I’m just a wildman local Publisher running for the state Assembly as an Independent. (And in a race that’s almost impossible to win. Only one Independent in the past 50 years has won an Assembly seat in New Jersey.)

 

But I digress.

 

The Governor earned his paycheck last week. Thankfully, we never saw how Christie would have reacted if Irene hadn’t weakened – and smashed into New Jersey with twice the force as a Category One hurricane. That would have been something. Still, we got to give the guy credit.  Based on his overall command of the Irene situation, it sure seemed that the Governor could have handled it.

 

Of course, despite his excellent performance, Christie did find some way to be a bit of a prick. His “get the hell off the beach in Asbury Park” rant during one press conference – about 24 hours before the storm was to hit – was a bit much. Typical theatrics from a guy who gets off a little too much on being a bully. 

 

Don’t get me wrong. I generally like the Governor’s economic policies. I would have voted with him on his state government reforms. But there’s just something about the guy that bugs me. His petulant instincts not to come home from Florida demonstrates it. Same with some other shit he’s pulled.

 

But at least with the Hurricane Irene situation it appears the Governor learned some lessons. I hope.

 

If not, I look forward to going to Trenton as an Independent beholden to no one – and telling the Governor to cut the crap when necessary.

 

Of course, I’ll do the same to the Democrats who control the state Assembly and Senate. After all, Governor Christie may be a bit of a prick, but those people are downright clowns.

 

(The 11^th District where I’m running includes: Asbury Park, Long Branch, Red Bank, Ocean Township, Neptune, Neptune City, Interlaken, Deal, Allenhurst, Loch Arbour, West Long Branch, Eatontown, Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, Tinton Falls, Colts Neck, Freehold Township and Freehold Borough.)

 

Posted: September 1st, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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