Our hearts go out to the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and we encourage all of our readers to contribute to www.EmergencyChesedFund.com as we have. While tonight we will know who won or lost today’s election, today we already have a list of political winners & losers from Hurricane Sandy. We know its crass but the reality is that everything that happens in the real world has an impact on the political world. Here’s our take:
Winners & Losers of Hurricane Sandy
Winners
Barack Obama
You may not want to hear it, but it’s true: the President looked very presidential this past week, leading the East Coast out of a crisis. By all accounts he stopped the momentum that Romney was getting and is now on-track to get re-elected tonight.
Andrew Cuomo
He’s one cool, calm and collected Governor. Plus all of his major responsibilities including trains & tunnels have gotten up and running before the city’s. Bonus: the economic development that FEMA dollars will bring will lower unemployment just in time for his run for president.
Phil Goldfeder
Much of his community has no power but the hard-working Assemblyman has been getting national press for his efforts. Even the President’s Chief of Staff paid him a visit in the Rockaways. Downside: If power doesn’t come back soon, his constituents’ patience may run out.
David Greenfield
The Councilman’s office was open through the storm. He’s been working 24 hours a day and burning up Twitter (@NYCGreenfield) & Facebook helping his constituents with their problems. Bonus: Greenfield was one of the first to call for Mayor Bloomberg to cancel the marathon.
Joe Lhota
The former Deputy Mayor for Rudy Giuliani, and current CEO of the MTA, did a better job than anyone else after Hurricane Sandy. If the Republicans are still looking for a mayoral candidate in New York City, Joe should be their guy.
Losers
Eric Ulrich
Sure, the Queens Councilman is working hard this week, but all those communities that the Republicans gerrymandered into his new senate seat are displaced and not likely to vote today. Upside: He’s now a leading contender for minority leader of the NYC Council.
Mike Bloomberg
New York’s moody mayor was off to such a good start but then he let his obsession with rich people’s sports get in the way. His focus on running the marathon will cement his reputation as a Mayor who could care less about the middle-class.
Dov Hikind
Inexplicably, Hikind chose to stay in Florida to campaign for Romney instead of coming back to Brooklyn to help his constituents. Hikind better hope Romney wins and finds him a job because many of his constituents are furious.
LIPA
The Long Island Power Authority may have seen its last days in business. There is no excuse for the lack of power in Long Island and Far Rockaway. Governor Cuomo has promised to make LIPA pay.
Ed Mangano
The Republican County Executive swept into power promising change. If change means that your constituents are freezing and no one cares about them – well done. Expect Tom Suozzi to make a comeback next year.
(Dov Gordon – YWN)
This is a small selection of a new exclusive political analysis column – Backroom Deals – available only in Yeshiva World News print edition distributed every Fridays in Boro Park, Midwood & Queens. Dov Gordon is a political maven with unrivaled sources in the New York political world. Have a tip for Dov? Email him at [email protected]. As you can see from his column, he guarantees all his sources confidentiality. Please note, this column is an opinion piece. The views reflected here are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YWN.
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10 Responses
LIPA is NOT a loser he’s a winner. He’ll probably come out with a song for the Sandy victims making him even more of a winner.
While were were busy hosting refugees of Sandy and trying to find gas we kept getting robo calls from Hikind asking us to vote for his candidate! Assuming that the calls were from neighbors in need we have been answering all calls this week.
This was not the week to annoy us with such calls.
This is why I love YWN. You always have the best political analysis!
As for Dov Hikind: hard-work is just not his thing. He limits his outrage to swastikas. No electric, heat or gas is apparently not his problem. Must be nice to be in Florida while your constituents freeze in NYC!
Too bad about Eric Ulrich. He is a good guy. I am just wondering if the frum community is backing Ulrich, why is Goldfeder backing Addabo? Well, I’ll give him a pass this week because he’s been working so hard and probably not sleeping so his judgement is clouded. 😉
Hey laytzonay hador omrim (#1 above)
You have your head positioned in the wrong direction and too low. Don’t you know how to read? LIPA is not a “he”. Read the article again turkey. LIPA stands for Long Island Power Authority. It’s an “it”, “a corporation”, “a company”.
This whole column is really just to bash Dov Hikind, he has been ywn political loser forever. Never anything good to say.
Dov Hikind is responsible for the storm, as long as nobody figures that out, he is a winner. Why do you think he went to Florida.
To No. 7
What an outrageous comment. There is no evidence that Dov even knew a hurricane was coming. He has clearly stated that he purchased a non-refundable fare to Miami and would have been incurred a substantial charge for coming home early. In any event, he claims he had no information that a storm was even forecast for the New York area.
The people most responsible for hurricane sandy (sodom and new york destroyed) are cuomo bloomberg and sheldon silver. They pushed gay marriage and they will rot in gehinom.
why does yeshiva world dislike dov so much?!?!
he is amazing and has dedicated his life to our community