Election-year politics color hurricane recovery efforts

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A week after the storm struck the Southeast, power outages and impassable roads are hampering recovery efforts—and so are election-year politics.

With the presidential election just a month away, there was a lot more finger-pointing and less camaraderie on display than has been typical during past natural disasters. Several prominent Republicans, most notably former President Donald Trump, accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials of mismanaging key parts of the recovery process.

Trump spread several baseless allegations. He said federal officials and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,” although he gave no specific details. He said that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp could not get Biden on the phone—an accusation that both Kemp and Biden denied. And Trump falsely accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of stealing relief money to spend on immigrants instead. (FEMA set up a website to combat disinformation about the hurricane relief efforts and address false rumors, including that one.)

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, decided not to join Biden during the president’s visit to Tallahassee Thursday. Instead, DeSantis held a press conference to announce he would deploy the Florida National Guard to ports “to maintain order and, where possible, resume operations.” Dockworkers walked off the job Tuesday, idling ports along the Gulf and East Coasts.

“It is unacceptable for the Biden-Harris administration to allow supply chain interruptions to hurt people who are reeling from a category 4 hurricane,” DeSantis said on social media. Biden helped broker a deal that reopened the ports just a few hours later.

In Georgia, Kemp complained that FEMA initially only approved 11 counties for federal emergency declarations. “When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties,” Kemp told WRDW.

“So we called the White House. We spoke to the president’s chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, ‘Look, you’re sending the signal that you’re not paying attention to some of these rural communities,’” he said.

Almost immediately, FEMA added another 30 counties to the declaration. Biden later told reporters he thought the whole state would eventually be covered.

Kemp is navigating a tough political situation, as the governor of a swing state who has feuded with Trump over the last four years but also wants to help his party win Georgia. The Republican governor told reporters that Biden had called him and asked what Georgia needed for the hurricane recovery. “He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that,” Kemp said.

But on Friday, Kemp was scheduled to appear with Trump for the first time in four years to tour damage from the storm.

In North Carolina, another swing state, some Republicans have questioned Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s handling of the recovery efforts.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the embattled Republican candidate to succeed Cooper, suggested the state’s handling of the crisis was inadequate. “The time for politics is over. We are talking about saving people’s lives here,” he wrote on social media. “North Carolina must follow the lead of successful governors like @GovRonDeSantis. Cut the red tape. Stop waiting on federal resources and allow private industry in to assist with rescue and recovery efforts, and repair infrastructure immediately.”

But Robinson, whose standing in North Carolina has fallen since CNN reported that he called himself a “black Nazi” on a porn site, also faced criticism for his official response to the hurricane.

The lieutenant governor was the only statewide elected official who did not vote on Cooper’s request to declare a state of emergency before Helene hit, WRAL reported.

Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, called Robinson’s inaction “inexcusable.”

McCrory also criticized Robinson for attacking Cooper so early in the recovery process. “This is not a time for criticism,” he told the television station. “This is a time for working together as a team and asking how you can help. I'm sure there are people who feel stranded out there, but right now is not the time to start throwing arrows.”

Biden visited four states hit hard by the storm this week: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Cooper and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster joined him while he visited their states. McMaster called the federal response “superb.” Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia said he was “incredibly appreciative” of the federal hurricane response so far.

Biden said the federal government would help victims of the hurricane, regardless of their political affiliation. “There are no Democrats, Republicans, only Americans and our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can,” Biden said.

But he did criticize Trump on social media after Politico reported that the former president initially wanted to deny California’s request for a disaster declaration for wildfires because of the state’s Democratic leanings. “You can’t only help those in need if they voted for you,” Biden wrote. “It’s the most basic part of being president, and this guy knows nothing about it.” 

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News to Use

Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs and Notable Events

Unions
Port union agrees to suspend strike. The International Longshoremen’s Association agreed on Thursday to go back to work. The move followed an improved wage offer from port employers, and extends the current contract through Jan. 15 so that both sides have time to iron out additional issues. The strike, which began on Tuesday and closed down major ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, threatened to weigh on the economy five weeks before national elections. The agreement came after the White House pressed both sides to reach a deal to end the strike, the union’s first full-scale walkout since 1977. Earlier in the day, before the announcement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had said he would send the Florida National Guard and State Guard to ports in the state impacted by the strikes "to maintain order and, if possible, resume operations."

Elections
Former county clerk gets 9 years in prison for tampering with voting machines. Tina Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison after being found guilty in August of tampering with voting machines under her control in a failed attempt to prove that they had been used to rig the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump. “You are no hero, you abused your position and you are a charlatan,” Judge Matthew D. Barrett scolded her from the bench, adding, “You cannot help but lie as easy as you breathe.” The sentence was the first to be handed down against a local election official found liable for security breaches of voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems.

Artificial Intelligence
Why the governor vetoed California’s bold bid to regulate AI. Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked the most ambitious proposal in the nation Sunday aimed at curtailing the growth of artificial intelligence. The first-of-its-kind bill required safety testing of large AI systems, or models, before their release to the public. It also gave the state’s attorney general the right to sue companies over serious harm caused by their technologies. And it mandated a kill switch to turn off AI systems in case of potential biowarfare, mass casualties or property damage. Newsom said that the bill was flawed because it focused too much on regulating the biggest AI systems, known as frontier models, without considering potential risks and harms from the technology. Meanwhile, a new California law allowing any person to sue for damages over election deepfakes was put on pause Wednesday after a federal judge said the law likely violates the First Amendment.

Food waste, legacy admissions, marijuana and gas prices
The California Legislature wraps up session, starts another. It is usually not noteworthy when a state legislature adjourns, but some of the bills passed and signed this week were. What’s more, the session isn’t over quite yet: Newsom has called lawmakers back for a special session focused on gas prices, even though the state Senate isn’t playing along. Notable bills include a first-in-the-nation ban on food labels that say “sell by” or “best before” to reduce both food waste and climate-warming emissions; a ban on legacy admissions (joining a rarefied group of four other states—Colorado, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia); and a bill that will allow cannabis cafes, where patrons can eat food, smoke marijuana, and watch live performances, similar to those in operation in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, Newsom did veto a bill that would have required speeding alerts in new cars. (FUN FACT: The last time the California Legislature overrode a governor’s veto was 1979.)

Racial Justice
Justice Department will launch civil rights review into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The agency announced Monday a first-ever federal probe of the massacre, an attack by a white mob on a thriving Black district that is considered one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. The review was launched under a federal cold-case initiative that has led to prosecutions of some Civil Rights Era cases, although the assistant U.S. attorney in charge said the department has “no expectation” there is anyone living who could be prosecuted as a result of the inquiry. The massacre killed as many as 300 Black people; more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches were destroyed; and thousands were forced into internment camps overseen by the National Guard.

Public Schools
Oklahoma wants Bibles for classrooms. But only ‘Trump Bibles’ fit. Schools Superintendent Ryan Walters isn’t just talking about buying Bibles for schools. Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications—ones that only Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible, meet. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement. Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said the request for proposals might violate state law. “It appears to me that this bid is anything but competitive,” he said.

Marijuana
As America’s marijuana use grows, so do the harms. As marijuana legalization has accelerated across the country, reports The New York Times, doctors are contending with the effects of an explosion in the use of the drug and its intensity. Tens of millions of Americans use the drug, for medical or recreational purposes—most of them without problems. But with more people consuming more potent cannabis more often, a growing number, mostly chronic users, are enduring serious health consequences. The accumulating harm from the $33 billion industry is broader and more severe than previously reported. And gaps in state regulations, limited public health messaging and federal restraints on research have left many consumers, government officials and even medical practitioners in the dark about such outcomes.

Finance
Louisiana governor plans to call third special session to overhaul the state’s tax system. Gov. Jeff Landry says that he plans to call the legislature into a special session in November, marking the third such gathering this year, with the hopes of overhauling the state’s current tax system that the Republican said is failing residents. Landry detailed his proposed tax plan during a news conference on Tuesday, with a focus on reducing the income tax and charging sales tax for more items and services. Louisiana is the latest state in the Deep South to discuss tax changes, as Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves continues to push for his state to phase out the income tax and as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed measures earlier this year to significantly cut income taxes.

Criminal Justice
Life tenure is a rarity on state supreme courts. Imposing term limits on the U.S. Supreme Court would be transformational, but far from radical. More than two-thirds of Americans believe the justices should serve for a fixed number of years rather than hold their positions for life. Indeed, the federal high court is a stark outlier when compared to state supreme courts. While the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices enjoy lifetime appointments, 339 out of the 344 state supreme court justices serve a limited term subject to reselection, face a mandatory retirement age, or both. That represents 99% of state justices across 49 states, with only the five justices on the Rhode Island Supreme Court serving a life term. Since 1970, state justices have served an average of 13 years, half as long as the average of 26 years on the bench for U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Agriculture
Iowa AG leads continued fight against Massachusetts animal confinement law. Iowa and 21 other pork-production states are pushing for an appeal of a federal district court ruling that upheld a 2016 ballot measure in Massachusetts to prohibit the sale of pork, poultry and veal from livestock that were “confined in a cruel manner.” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird headed an amici curiae, or an informational brief in support of one side of a case. The 2016 measure at issue, known as Question 3, has been challenged multiple times by hog farmers and pork coalitions. The law is similar to California’s Proposition 12, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2023, in that both restrict the sale of meat from certain animals raised in a confining manner. A federal judge dismissed all of the claims against the Massachusetts law, which is being appealed.

Picture of the Week

Not going to lie, City of Boise's first TikTok is pretty good pic.twitter.com/YrrIb6oOY7

— Sally Krutzig (@sallykrutzig) October 2, 2024

The city of Boise is on TikTok, and the topic of its first post this week? A fatberg. That’s right, in the video the city’s social media manager, Elizabeth Kidd, dresses up in the “scariest costume” she can think of to get everyone at city hall in the Halloween spirit. Kidd used the post as a PSA on fatbergs, a giant clump made up of hardened fat, oil, wet wipes and other waste items that can obstruct sewer systems. It’s a growing problem for urban sewer systems that New York City has dedicated an entire webpage to and that has garnered headlines around the world. In London a few years back, the city made global news when they had to unblock a section of the sewer system clogged by “a stomach-churning, 130-ton mass of sanitary products and cooking fat.”

Government in Numbers

1,450

The number of bison that stampeded down the hills of Custer State Park for the 59th annual Governor's Buffalo Roundup. 

It may be Fat Bear Week in Katmai National Park, but nearly 2,500 miles away in South Dakota, more than 20,000 spectators gathered to watch another treasured annual tradition. The slightly less-known event is also a celebration of a big, strong, brown animal. Cowboys and cowgirls rounded up a herd of more than 1,500 bison last weekend as part of an annual effort to maintain the health of the species, which has rebounded from near-extinction. Each year, Custer State Park holds one of the nation’s few bison roundups to check their health and vaccinate calves.