pataki said too many washing machines were operating at one time. for more info read jimmy breslin
Cast In A Bad Light
Jimmy Breslin
August 17, 2003
Lights Out Pataki, the governor of New York, looked around on Thursday at some chateau on the Canadian border and called out, "What is happening to the lights?"
"They're going out," a flunky said.
"That's right. The lights are out. Why are the lights out?"
"I don't know, governor."
"Then I better know. I want to know why the lights are out. If I'm not careful here, somebody is going to blame me."
He turned the color of milk at that thought. How could anybody blame Lights Out Pataki for not having any lights? He has only been in office for nine years. That is almost a decade. And on Thursday, there was no system in this entire state to take care of an electrical emergency.
I can prove to you that there was no system. Almost every light in the city and a good part of the state went out at once. Millions were in the dark.
It happens that it isn't a system. But that is the system of George Pataki. Lights Out!
Thursday night gave him that name forever. Lights Out Pataki! With it comes the record of being one of the weakest and worst governors in the modern history of this state.
He is a cheering, fanatical disciple of President George W. Bush. When this started, they woke up Bush to tell him of the blackout. "This is a wake-up call," he said. Shortly afterward, he found that 50 million, give or take a few Canadians, were affected by the blackout. That is about 20 percent of America. Bush said the system was antiquated and he was going to do something about it.
Until now, the only thing Bush did with energy was be close friends of Ken Lay and Andy Fastow of Enron. They appear to be the worst thieves in modern American history.
People keep saying that Bush is the worst since Herbert Hoover, and this is not right because Bush is the worst before Herbert Hoover, too.
Lights Out Pataki loves Bush and has the credentials. Only a few years ago, there was a blackout in Washington Heights and great crowds were on the streets. Pataki was asked if his Public Service Commission should get money into the infrastructure of a place like Washington Heights, whose cables were first used to replace gaslight.
Just doing something might have shown that he at least thought about the city's electricity. He said nothing and he did nothing.
On Thursday night, he became Lights Out Pataki!
He announced that he was furious that some guy in Ottawa had pushed the wrong button and caused the blackout. He wanted answers!
Yesterday, Lights Out Pataki held a press conference at which he attacked washing machines. Whatever you do, don't use washing machines, he kept saying. One washing machine could knock out the whole Niagara-Ontario-Akron-Detroit power grid. He then said, as I listened, "It's wonderful the way all of New York is cooperating to get us through this experience. People are wonderful with each other. People are cooperating and are getting through this with a spirit."
That sound you heard was the tap tap tap tap of the Pekingese of the Press rushing to the front door to tell the town and all the people that this was not a blackout really, this was an exercise in civic pride. Be proud of yourself! This is a great experience. All your life you will remember exactly where you were when the great blackout of 2003 occurred.
"Where were you when the lights went out?" I asked Robert Dickstein. He was standing in the dawn darkness on Friday morning on Fifth Avenue.
"I was in work. Where was I supposed to be. I run the mailroom. I don't know whether I even noticed. But I can tell you that I can't get to Canarsie. There's no subway. I'm looking for a bus. There's no bus. I'm supposed to walk. You try walking to Canarsie."
He looked at the crowd waiting for something. "I don't know anybody here," he said. "What's everybody going to do, carry me to Canarsie?"
By yesterday morning, the Pekingese of the Press were praising the leadership style of Pataki, and also of Mayor Mike Bloomberg. They each had two press conferences. That constitutes regular leadership. The record for great leadership is held by Rudolph Giuliani, who held five press conferences a day after the World Trade Center attack.
Bloomberg then said that any nonessential workers shouldn't come into work.
That immediately put me back in New York history to 1966 when there was a transit strike and Mayor John Lindsay announced, "If you're not indispensable, don't come in."
And in front of the mirror, my friend Robert J. Allen's hand shook so much that he cut all over shaving. "You're indispensable!" he roared at the mirror. "They will die without you." He walked miles to the city. On each step he said, "I'm indispensable. I'm indispensable."
Suddenly, a call was put in for John Odermatt, who is the commissioner in the Office of Emergency Management. That is the office that put up a great security bunker in the sky at the World Trade Center for Giuliani and it was said to be attack proof. The September attack blew the bunker into the sky.
But they put in a call for him yesterday and he was flown by Virginia police to a place to get him to New York. We are on our way to solving everything. Odermatt of Emergency Management jumped off a plane in New York. He cried:
"Lights Out!"
