Jencunas: Juno Response Big Win For RI Elected Officials

Jencunas: Juno Response Big Win For RI Elected Officials

Rhode Island’s elected officials found a silver lining in this week’s blizzard. Their response to the storm was largely successful, and a great start for new elected officials facing their first crisis.  
    
Responding to snow storms is always a high-stakes situation for elected officials. Quickly plowed roads and calming demeanor at press briefings can raise someone’s approval rating by double digits. On the other hand, slow snow removal is a guarantee for lower poll numbers. In the worst case scenario, delayed emergency services leading to fatalities, a politician’s reelection is likely doomed. 

Jorge Elorza and Providence

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Storm response was especially important for Jorge Elorza. He argued throughout the mayoral campaign that his inexperience wouldn’t mean he needed on the job training as mayor. 

Elorza’s effective leadership during the blizzard proved, at the very least, he didn’t need on the job training for emergency response. The roads were plowed quickly, emergency services responded to calls without major problems, and power was restored quickly. 

Elorza showed media savvy with a photo op of the shovel he kept in the trunk of his chauffeured city limousine. Props are good window dressing for disaster response, as Massachusetts’ governor Deval Patrick showed with his now-iconic wearing of a sleeveless, nylon vest during every emergency.

One blemish on Elorza’s record was the amount of private contractors Providence relies on for snow removal. Though most cities use a combination of public and private plows, Providence could save money by relying less on private contractors. 

However, this is a long-term issue for the city. In the short-term, the snow removal effort was a welcome improvement over the last major blizzard in 2013. Mayor Elorza will no doubt benefit from his good work.

Governor Raimondo 

Likewise, Governor Raimondo deserves credit for the statewide response, especially the travel ban. It may be unpopular with some hardline individualists and libertarians, but the ban makes disaster response much easier. Plows don’t need to worry about running over barely visible pedestrians, so snow can be cleared faster. Police don’t need to respond to stranded motorists, so they can be better spent responding to disaster related issues. Just like in Massachusetts, the travel ban let all the public resources go towards managing the blizzard, and it’s quickly becoming a best practice for severe weather.

Obviously, an effective storm response isn’t all because of a politician. Public workers, workers for the electric companies, and the lucky break of the snow being soft and fluffy were all major factors. 

Additionally, ever-improving weather forecasting gives more time to prepare for storms. This is a big improvement from 1970s and 80s, when unexpected storms stranded motorists, with some dying in their cars, and caused streets to be clogged with snow for days. Indeed, the travel ban that so effective would have been impossible without the precise forecasts. 

DiBlasio and New York City

But political leaders deserve credit because if anything goes wrong, they get blamed. Just ask Bill DiBlasio, mayor of New York City. He closed the city based on predictions of record snowfall, an expensive decision in the nation’s largest city. When the record snowfall didn’t happen, the mayor was pilloried, just as he would have been if the city wasn’t closed and the blizzard struck as predicted. 

A final warning to Rhode Island’s elected officials – don’t think effective disaster response is a guarantee of reelection, or even popularity. In 1978, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis won national acclaim for his response to the Blizzard of ’78. An aide called the disaster response “the intervention of the good Lord for the governor’s reelection.” Dukakis was defeated in the Democratic primary a few months later, though he would later be reelected governor and run unsuccessfully for President. 

Dukakis is the exception to the rule though, and at the very least, Raimondo and Elorza should enjoy a few weeks of rising popularity for their successful disaster response.

Brian Jencunas works as a communications and media consultant. During the 2014 Providence mayoral election, he worked with the Cianci campaign, focusing on messaging and polling analysis. Brian can be reached at [email protected] and always appreciates reader feedback.