The dark clouds just keep coming

Hurricanes are bad things. They can cause a lot of damage and also create a lot of fear. One of the positive things that are the byproduct of a tropical storm is that it gives you a chance to catch up on the news of the world and your community.
Hurricane Irene is now a thing of the past. Considering that this is only the middle of the hurricane season, it would be wise for public officials in our downstate region to review the steps and missteps they took during this past week so that we’re prepared for another storm should it happen.

I know there are a lot of readers who don’t believe in the theory of global warming, but the kinds of ugly storms we’ve been having in 2011 should make some doubters waver a little. We can’t blame the recent earthquake on global warming, but those baseball-size hailstones and spectacular rainstorms in the middle of hot summer days are a sign of something bad in the atmosphere.

I see where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has a novel idea for all of our local officials whose communities have suffered storm damage from Irene. He thinks that no area that has experienced storm losses should get any money from the federal government unless they make cuts in their budget equal to what the aid is. Under Cantor’s theory, the state of Louisiana should pay for the costs of Hurricane Katrina using money it didn’t have and never will have.

Another interesting story is developing around Congressman Paul Ryan. Ryan, you may recall, is the author of the House budget that would make Medicaid into a voucher system, which means no more Medicaid. Ryan, who wants to cut everybody’s federal benefits, has sponsored a series of tax-cut bills to favor local industries in Wisconsin, his home state. In return, those industries have been contributing big bucks to his campaign fund. So much for purity.

There were a lot of stories about President Obama’s vacation. It seems that all of the Republican candidates for president were able to agree on something. They all chastised the president for taking time off with his family. I’m old enough to remember all the Democratic critics who went after Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and the Bushes for taking the same vacations at the same time, so I guess history repeats itself.

There isn’t much going on in the race for the White House. No new candidates have declared for the job, so for now we’ll have to watch the current field of Romney, Huntsman, Bachmann, Paul, Perry and maybe Palin. Former New York Gov. George Pataki has declined to run, and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is waiting in the wings to see what Perry does.

On Long Island, no one has come up with any new ideas on how to build a new Coliseum and keep the Islanders in New York state. A committee has been formed to study the situation and come up with ideas for the whole complex. It is suprising that, to date, most of the Island’s biggest developers have proposed building more housing units, but no one wants to suggest how to build a new arena.

New York City is much luckier than the Island. Developer Bruce Ratner is in the midst of building a new arena in Brooklyn for the Nets and, maybe someday, the Islanders. Larry Silverstein, with tax breaks galore, is reshaping ground zero. And all Long Island has is a big parking lot, a decrepit arena and a losing hockey team.
The King James Bible says it well: “Where there is no vision the people perish.”

Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He now heads Empire Government Strategies, a business development and legislative strategy firm. Comment below about this column or write JKremer@liherald.com.