Village Voice: NY's Prince of Darkness (Pataki & the Blackout))

G_j

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Wed Aug-20-03 07:29 AM
Original message

Village Voice: NY's Prince of Darkness (Pataki & the Blackout))

The Village Voice: CityState: New York's Prince of Darkness by Wayne Barrett

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0334/barrett.php

The chickens came home to roost last Thursday and all George Pataki could do was squawk.

There he was on Larry King Live, the governor of a state that couldn't even watch him, promising to get to the bottom of the first 21st-century blackout, looking for any culprit but himself. After eight and a half years of the most disastrous energy policies in New York history, George Pataki spent the last few days frantically turning himself into a human floodlight, scanning an eight-state collapsed grid for a blameworthy glitch, when he needed only to shine the klieg on himself.

"We have to have answers," tough-talking Pataki declared, determined to be a player in a televised national drama, using his status as a Ranger fundraiser for George Bush to get Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to a pointless Albany press conference.
...more...

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G_j

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Wed Aug-20-03 08:19 AM
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1. a NY kick

:kick:

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Kbowe

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Wed Aug-20-03 08:25 AM
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2. Can Pataki be recalled?

Can Bloomberg be recalled? Should they be? Isn't NY in debt as CA?

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NashVegas

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Wed Aug-20-03 08:27 AM
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3. Love This

So the governor started his administration in 1995 by closing down the state energy office, against the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Conference of State Legislatures. Then, the Times reported, he "scaled back the state's energy conservation program, once the country's most aggressive, by more than 70 percent," another temporary bow to the industry, which foots the bill. Between 1996 and 1998, his Public Service Commission unilaterally installed, without any legislative review, a reckless "let-the-markets-rule" transformation of the state's power system that immediately resulted in a 43 percent price hike downstate.

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DinahMoeHum

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Wed Aug-20-03 08:48 AM
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4. Jimmy Breslin socked it to Governor "PotatoHead" as well. . .

Edited on Wed Aug-20-03 01:53 PM by Skinner

last Sunday:
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nybres173416794aug17,0,5096925.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

(snip)
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.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

:kick:

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G_j

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Wed Aug-20-03 08:57 AM
Response to Reply #4

5. "lights out Pataki"

I love it! The man is a disgrace!
Maybe this will finally wake up NY voters to dump him like a hot 'potato'.

good article by Breslin, thanks

G_j (a former NYer)

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Cha

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Wed Aug-20-03 09:41 AM
Response to Reply #4

7. And he gets voted in a freakin' 3rd time! So distressing!

I should hope this is his last! I'll be able to vote against him one more time in 2006 before I leave for Hawaii! :kick:

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lanlady

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Wed Aug-20-03 09:53 AM
Response to Reply #4

8. Jimmy on Bush:

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.

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G_j

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Wed Aug-20-03 09:58 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. hanging out with

the "worst thieves in modern American history"

Now there's a distinction to be proud of.

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newyawker99

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Wed Aug-20-03 01:43 PM
Response to Reply #4

10. frankzappa

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator

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Cha

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Wed Aug-20-03 09:37 AM
Response to Original message

6. I just read in Newsweek's "Conventional Wisdom" that pataki

with an "arrow" going Down next to his name and I quote.."NY govenor tried to blame Canada and everyone else. What have you been doing for the last nine years about the grid?"

Yes! :kick:

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