Giuliani ‘amazed' by ice storm damage
STORM'S AFTERMATH
Storm's Aftermath: Giuliani 'amazed' by ice storm damage

By Michael McNutt
Published: December 14, 2007

When the mayor of the city hardest struck on 9/11 called asking to see the damage caused by this week's ice storms, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said he couldn't refuse.

Advertisement

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, was in Oklahoma City for a private fundraiser Thursday at the Waterford Marriott.

Giuliani, who had canceled a public appearance scheduled at the Classen Grill after the fundraiser, had some extra time and wanted to look at some of the damage and cleanup efforts, said Elliott Bundy, a spokesman for the Giuliani campaign.

The campaign scratched the public appearance so the candidate wouldn't divert attention from cleanup efforts under way from this week's ice storms, Bundy said.

"Rudy decided to take a look,” Bundy said.

"It wasn't anything we advised. ... We had done our best to keep a low profile.

"He was curious and wanted to talk to some people helping out with the response,” he said.

Cornett said he was at a Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce board meeting when his chief of staff, David Holt, called to let him know Giuliani wanted a first-hand look at the damage.

Giuliani ‘understands' disaster situations
Cornett took Giuliani on about a 30-minute tour of some of the hardest-hit areas in older neighborhoods north of downtown. He said they ended up at the Oklahoma City National Memorial in downtown Oklahoma City, where he told Giuliani of efforts to protect the Survivor Tree.

Throughout the storm, state workers and volunteers pushed long poles up into the tree's canopy, dislodging ice as it accumulated on the branches.

"He reflected on some of his friends that he lost at 9/11 that had been here to help us with the (1995 Murrah Building) bombing,” Cornett said.

Before arriving at the memorial, Giuliani and Cornett stopped twice — once near NW 37 and Walker Avenue to talk with a repair crew that came from Lafayette, La., to help and another time to see a large tree that was uprooted by the ice near Crown Heights United Methodist Church, 1021 NW 37.

"He was amazed that this much damage had occurred without it being wind-aided,” Cornett said. "The damage we've got is because of the weight of the ice. I think that astonished him.

"When you spent eight years doing what he did in New York, you're used to seeing blackouts and all sorts of ... significant disasters,” Cornett said. "He understands probably as well as anyone in the nation what we are going through.”


Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford
Bookmark and Share

Related Topics: Politics, U.S. Politics, Elections and Voting, Local Politics, U.S. Presidential Election


Your thoughts!

Thank you for joining our conversations on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.

Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on local crime or fatality stories.

Leave a comment

Log in below or sign up (it's free).





Jeff, Quit acting like a Democrat sheep. It's a disgrace to see a fellow Oklahoman whining as you are. Clinton did his job, although it is an outrage to instruct people to suspend recovery work simply because a politician is present, and Giuliani did his. Both did the best they could and both seemed to genuinely care. To argue that somehow you know either was pretending to care is stupidity, plain and simple. Neither you nor I can know what’s in their hearts. One final thing: Not all Republicans bash Clinton for his tryst with Monica. I for one had no problem with his straying from Hilary. Hell, if I had to go home to that witch I’d probably be looking elsewhere as well. What I and many other Republicans were mad about was his moronic assertion that fellatio was not sex and that this retarded assertion was made under oath. Got it?
Kevin, Yukon - Dec 16, 2007 at 8:39 am
Sure Rachel. There's just one difference-he's RUNNING for President. Clinton WAS the President. Had he either not shown up or kept a "low profile", as you put it, after the May 3rd tornadoes we would have never heard the end of it ("where was BILL?"). Don't kid yourself, Rudy is all about the photo op, something he took great advantage of after 9/11 and never hesitates to bring that up whenever he can. What about the fact he chose to locate the NYC emergency operations in the WTC? (closer for him to walk from his office, don't you know). And of course, paid security and a police officer and car to drive his mistress, Judith Nathan. I amazed that you Clinton-bashers overlook this, but castigate Clinton every chance you get about Monica. Typical hypocrisy. I'll take Clinton over Giuliana or any of the Repuglicans any day.
Jeff, Oklahoma City - Dec 14, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Report as inappropriate or
Ignore Jeff
Good for him. Giuliani did what any respectable man running for office should do, take a look but not take away from what is happening. He didn't announce it or stop anybody from anything. Unlike President Clinton after the May 3rd tornado where when he got here everybody within a six block radius had to stop taking things out of the rubble left behind so they could listen to him talk for 30 minutes and be that much closer to being cleared out of their neighborhood because they only had so much time to save what they could. Personally that was the worst day I think I had ever experienced while trying to help others.
Rachel, Del City - Dec 14, 2007 at 2:09 pm