People leave the flooded community of Country Club Ridge in North Port, Fla., following Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022.
Carlos Osorio for NPR
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Carlos Osorio for NPR
People leave the flooded community of Country Club Ridge in North Port, Fla., following Hurricane Ian on September 29, 2022.
Carlos Osorio for NPR
The remnants of Hurricane Ian will continue to be felt this weekend and in the coming days as it moves over and down the East Coast. These storms, which occur every year and are made worse by climate change, are challenging local politicians and leaders.
They will continue to be great tests, showing whether government can function at its most basic functions – keeping people safe and helping them recover when they are not.
“In a way, these events greatly reduce the silence of politics and the gravity of politics – ensuring that a state’s resources are always available to deal with a events that threaten people’s lives and livelihoods” Andrew Reeves, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and is the director of the Weidenbaum Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy, where he studies, among other things, the political storm.
“This is politics, so I think this is the right time to talk about these things.”
Hurricanes and natural disasters are always a challenge for Presidents and local leaders. If handled well, they can strengthen their image as leaders of their communities, looking competent and trustworthy to help voters get what they need. If mishandled, they can be great albatrosses that spoil their heritage.
This storm comes just weeks before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is said to have presidential aspirations, stands for re-election. So the stakes for the people of Florida – and DeSantis – couldn’t be higher.
It is impossible to judge how a leader handles the storm that follows. That statement actually comes with answers to the key questions any recovery faces: How quick and effective are rescue efforts? When is the power back? Can people get food and clean water? When will the roads be repaired and the bridges reopened? When can people return to their homes? When can the community rebuild? And where does the money come from?
“These are often fun leadership quizzes,” says Reeves. “This particular pop quiz happened close to the midterm elections. Voters tend to have short-term memories. So you know, even if something happens six months or one the year doesn’t have much power either. But we’re here in October. And so this event will be different.”
Billion dollar disaster is on the rise
The number of natural disasters worth $1 billion or more has increased dramatically since 1980, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationfollow these events.
Petteri Taalas, head of the World Meteorological Organization, said: “Climate science can increasingly demonstrate that many of the extreme weather events we are experiencing are increasingly likely to occur. severe due to anthropogenic climate change” said this week. “We’ve seen this many times this year, with tragic consequences. It’s more important than ever that we scale up action on early warning systems to build capacity. resilience to current and future climate risks in vulnerable communities.”
DeSantis tried to go a line between the MAGA base and the reality of disaster relief politics in Florida. He said in his gubernatorial campaign that he doesn’t want to be labeled a “global warming person,” for example. I also appoint a “resilience” officer and take some other steps that Environmentalists like.
But it must be admitted that climate change is real and try to save for disaster relief; it’s another measure to limit the long-term effects of climate change, anything else he not done yet.
The approach is complicated by what people say they want. Despite an increasing number of wildfires and floods ravaging communities across the country, and despite evidence that climate change will only increase these events, people say they would rather build rebuild rather than relocate.
Two-thirds of respondents NPR / PBS News/ Marist poll last year said they would rather rebuild in the area they live in than move out. Politicians will reciprocate that sentiment. That means new building guidelines, perhaps strengthening insurance regulations – and money, a lot.
Money and weird underwear
That disaster relief money will come from local and federal governments, and that means elected officials have to work together, even those who don’t like each other very much.
After the storm hit, DeSantis touted its conservative fiscal policies.
“We had the biggest budget surplus we’ve ever had, and of course, we’ve worked very hard to keep the economy open and make this the state people want to be in,” he said. in there. see historic reserves, even as we continue to break records with increased sales – no income taxes and low taxes. “
But he also acknowledged that he would need help from the federal government. That means a disagreement between DeSantis and President Biden, who can’t have many different policy outlooks.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, left, speaks as he stands with Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, during a news conference, Monday, September 26, 2022, in Largo, Fla.
Chris O’Meara / AP
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Chris O’Meara / AP
“I feel that the administration wants to help,” DeSantis said on Fox News this week.
It’s been pretty prominent since DeSantis was in Congress and voted against funding Superstorm Sandy victims in 2013.
“This ‘putting it into credit card mentality’ is part of the reason we find ourselves nearly $17 trillion in debt,” DeSantis said. say then.
Beyond the ongoing local politics, this is the era of the Tea Party, which helped Republicans win the House of Representatives in 2010. Their message, in general, is about the federal debt. Typically during the Obama administration, many House Republicans voted against things that traditionally have bipartisan support, like raising the debt ceiling and funding disaster relief.
In 2018, DeSantis voted in favor of emergency funding following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, which affected Puerto Rico, Texas and specifically Florida.
Biden this week said he has spoken to DeSantis several times. When asked if he and DeSantis would meet when Biden arrived in Florida, the president said, “I’ll see anyone around. The answer is: Yes, if he wants to.”
DeSantis frequently cited criticism of Biden as a key element of his re-election campaign, fueling speculation about a potential presidential run. Now, however, in the face of the devastation in his condition, DeSantis has offered such kind of talk.
“When people fight for their lives,” DeSantis said on Fox, “when their entire livelihood is threatened, when they lose everything, if you can’t put politics aside, then you won’t. maybe. So I will work with anyone who wants to help the people of Southwest Florida and across our state. “
Emergencies often create some unexpected — and interactive — relationships with political enemies
For example, it happened at least twice during the administration of former President Obama.
Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist is now a Democrat who is opposing DeSantis. But in 2009, he was the state governor of the Republican party. As the entire state was reeling from the economic collapse and searching for bailout funds, Crist introduced Obama, and they hugged for a moment on stage.
That hug was used in advertisements against him, and play an important role during Crist’s Republican political career.
President Barack Obama (at right) is greeted by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie upon arrival in Atlantic City, NJ, on October 31, 2012 to visit areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy .
Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images
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Jewel Samad / AFP via Getty Images
The then Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, was a sharp critic of Obama, but later worked with Obama to secure funding for Sandy. Christie faced a lot of conservative criticism for his embrace of Obama and for allegedly damaging his presidential ambitions.
In April 2020, another New Jersey governor, Democrat Phil Murphy, who has criticized Trump, went to the White House to Lobbying President Trump for help with coronavirus relief. In June, after the two had dinner together, Trump notice that he has authorized funding for an infrastructure project in New Jersey has long stalled. It is a “prize“for Murphy’s attendance at dinner, according to the book, This won’t passvia New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.
“This is politics where everyone has to work together,” said Reeves. “And part of that activity includes a federal response that coordinates with the state response. It involves governors calling the president and asking them to declare a disaster so federal dollars can be made available. flows into those states. And, you know, that makes for some awkward photos that work.”
Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on Biden and DeSantis as political enemies – and potential political rivals – finally meet, even as both acknowledge the need for cooperation now.
