Hurricane Sandy (2012)

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    The Blind Ambition of Chris Christie

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    Chris Christie’s presidential announcement at a June town hall at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire may not have had the drama of, say, a “West Wing” episode, but it did help clarify our current political moment and its most intriguing character. For over two hours — you could turn it into a mini-series — Mr. Christie, a former New Jersey governor and federal prosecutor, built a case against Donald Trump. To nominate him for the presidency again, Mr. Christie said, would be a moral and political disaster. “Trump made us smaller,” Mr. Christie told his audience as he prowled the stage, explaining that he wanted to go after Mr. Trump for two reasons: “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”It’s a bold premise, but more sound than it might seem. Almost any pollster will tell you that Mr. Trump’s support is soft once you look beyond the MAGA base. A CNN poll conducted in late August found that 44 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning independents said they were seriously worried that Mr. Trump’s legal issues could impair his ability to win the general election. Mr. Christie is the only candidate speaking directly, specifically to this fear. A separate poll found that almost a third of Republican voters who intend to support Mr. Trump said they might still change their minds based on what happens in the months leading up to the first votes being cast.But in national surveys, Mr. Christie is still polling in the low single digits. Mr. Trump, meanwhile, looks increasingly inevitable as the Republican nominee. Even in New Hampshire, a state where moderate voters hold outsize influence, Mr. Christie is languishing in fourth place, at just 9 percent in the polls. Why isn’t his message resonating?There are the obvious explanations: Mr. Trump has advantages as a former president, and his legal troubles have given him an excuse to present himself as an outsider, persecuted by the powers that be; Mr. Christie, meanwhile, is competing in a crowded field, packed with other candidates desperate for the same voters. But there is something deeper at work here, and it holds clues about what it would take to attack Mr. Trump successfully. Because while Mr. Christie may sound like the perfect Trump nemesis — pugnacious, outspoken, loud — he is a uniquely flawed foil for the former president, compromised in ways that blunt his most effective attacks. And though Mr. Christie’s journey through Republican politics is especially colorful — he is from New Jersey, after all — most of the other candidates are running up against similar problems as they struggle to maneuver through a political landscape forever changed by Mr. Trump.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.We are confirming your access to this article, this will take just a moment. However, if you are using Reader mode please log in, subscribe, or exit Reader mode since we are unable to verify access in that state.Confirming article access.If you are a subscriber, please More

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      A History of Doo-Wop Emerges From Sandy Wreckage

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      Kenny Vance’s home in the Rockaways was damaged by the hurricane 10 years ago. But he was able to save some precious footage.Good morning. It’s Monday. Hurricane Sandy did billions of dollars’ worth of damage, but it didn’t destroy everything in its path. We’ll find out about a documentary that exists because Sandy didn’t ruin the raw footage. And we’ll take a last look at the campaigns and the candidates.Kenny Vance, standing on what was left of his house after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Angel Franco/The New York TimesWe read a lot in the last couple of weeks about how Hurricane Sandy aimed its destructive power at vulnerable neighborhoods in 2012 and served as a wake-up call on climate change in New York City. My colleague Corey Kilgannon says the storm also figured, surprisingly, in a documentary about doo-wop by the singer and songwriter Kenny Vance. I asked Corey to explain:Kenny Vance idolized the early doo-wop groups he saw practicing and performing on street corners in Brooklyn in the 1950s. They influenced rock ’n’ roll when it was just beginning to blare out of radios into the eager ears of teenagers. He also remembers attending the frenetic shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater that offered acts from both genres.As an original member of Jay and the Americans, Vance sang on hits like “She Cried” in 1962 and opened for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones before their earliest performances in the United States. Later he was the music supervisor on films including “Animal House” and “American Hot Wax.”He also gathered and filmed interviews with New York City doo-wop legends.“Making a film was always in the back of my mind,” said Vance, 78, who kept the footage stored in his oceanfront house in the Rockaways in Queens.Assembling the footage was one of those things that was always on his agenda, but he never got around to it. And then, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy leveled Vance’s house, ruining everything inside.Or so he thought.Returning home to a soggy heap and sifting through his few remaining possessions, Vance figured the footage was ruined and his hopes for a film dashed.In the wreckage he spotted his desk on what was left of the second floor. He climbed up a ladder to it and pulled out one of the drawers. Inside, damp but salvageable, was a package of discs containing video files of his footage.Vance finally made time to make the film, and now, a decade after Sandy, the project is finished. “Heart & Soul,” the documentary that resulted, will have its premiere tonight as part of the Port Jefferson Documentary Series, on Long Island. The film will also be shown as part of the Dances With Films Festival in Manhattan next month.The film includes Vance’s interviews with members of groups like the Chantels, the Jive Five and Little Anthony and the Imperials.In one poignant segment in “Heart & Soul,” Vance talks with a schoolteacher in Harlem named Arlene Smith, in front of her students. They had no idea that she had been the lead singer for the Chantels, a group that had a hit in the late 1950s with “Maybe,” co-written by Smith and later recorded by Janis Joplin.Vance said he hoped the film would preserve the memory of groups whose prominence was often short-lived.“In the ’50s, these artists didn’t have entertainment lawyers, so they signed their lives away,” he said. “Even if you had a No. 1 record, without a follow-up hit, it’s over — you’re done. These days, you have one big song, you’re set for life.”WeatherA sunny day starts partly sunny, with temperatures near the mid-70s. The evening is mostly clear. Temps will drop to the mid-40s.ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKINGIn effect today. Suspended tomorrow (Election Day).The latest Metro newsDave Sanders for The New York TimesRepublicans vs. ‘Trumplicans’: Greenwich, Conn., has historically been a moderate conservative stronghold. But new hard-liners are on the attack, galvanized by the culture wars.5G towers come to the city: As the city upgrades to 5G wireless, the streetscape is changing. Not everyone was impressed when a 32-foot-tall 5G tower appeared on a Brooklyn street.Dog death in Prospect Park: Three months after a highly publicized attack left a dog dead, no arrests have been made, and the commanding officer of the precinct that includes the park said, “We may have dropped the ball.”How much do these New York jobs pay? Last week, most companies in New York City were required to include salary ranges on job postings. Take our quiz to see how well you can guess salaries on some only-in-New-York job openings.Presidents, past and present, rally for HochulAhmed Gaber for The New York TimesGov. Kathy Hochul once seemed to be on a glide path to a full term as governor. But issues that have Democrats steeling themselves against potential losses elsewhere — notably inflation and personal safety — have created unexpected turbulence.Her lead over the Republican in the race, Representative Lee Zeldin, has narrowed to single digits in recent polls. Zeldin has made inflation and crime his main themes. Hoping to win over moderate and independent voters who are open to change, he has also railed against one-party control of state government. The Democrats would surrender their veto-proof supermajority in the State Senate if they lose only one seat.Over the weekend Hochul seemed to be working to close an enthusiasm gap. President Biden appeared with her at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., on Sunday. The president called her a governor who can “get things done” and said Election Day and the coming 2024 campaign would be “inflection points” for the next 20 years.That 11th-hour rally followed one in Brooklyn on Saturday with former President Bill Clinton, who urged Democrats to reject what he characterized as Zeldin’s fearmongering and macho bravado.Zeldin has been buoyed by the cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, who has spent at least $11 million to help him win the governor’s mansion. Lauder said he was motivated by concerns about crime, which he worries is driving people from New York City. “You couldn’t pay me to get on the subway,” Lauder said, adding that he did not want his children and grandchildren “to have to go with bodyguards” (as he does).Lauder also complained that Hochul had not pushed harder to undo changes in the state’s bail law that barred prosecutors from seeking cash bail for less serious crimes.Another worry for Democrats is how they misplayed the redistricting process, which ended with a court-ordered redrawing of boundaries that could allow Republicans to flip a handful of House seats held by Democrats. Democrats hope to win the rematch between Representative Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican who won two years ago, and Max Rose, the Democrat whom she defeated. And Bridget Fleming, the Democratic candidate for the seat Zeldin is vacating on Long Island, has a significant fund-raising advantage over Nicholas LaLota, the Republican chief of staff of the Suffolk County Legislature.Letitia James, the state attorney general, is also running for re-election. She has made a name for herself nationally with investigations of former President Donald Trump, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the National Rifle Association. Those investigations have also made her a target — Trump, against the advice of several of his legal advisers, filed suit against her last week, saying she had waged a “relentless, pernicious, public and unapologetic crusade” against him. Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after James oversaw an inquiry into sexual harassment claims, said in an ethics complaint he filed against her that said she had “her own politically motivated and self-interest-driven agenda.”James has long rebutted the idea that her work as attorney general was politically motivated. She said that not looking into evidence of wrongdoing by Trump or the N.R.A. would have been a “dereliction of my duty.”METROPOLITAN diarySardinesDear Diary:After a hot afternoon of walking in Manhattan, I returned to my car, which I had parked on the street. I had just gotten in when I was startled by a knock on the driver’s side window. Turning to look, I saw a man standing there.“Would you be vacating your space?” he asked. A woman I took to be his wife hung back shyly and murmured an apology.I explained that I was waiting for my husband to make his way across town and that he should be arriving soon.The man introduced himself and his wife, gave me his number and asked me to call once my husband arrived. He wanted to move his car from across the street. He offered to bring me a beer while we waited. It was an enticing offer, but I declined.As they walked off toward their place, the man called out over his shoulder, “Do you like sardines?”When my husband arrived 20 minutes later, I explained that I had to call the couple. He settled in, and a few minutes later the man appeared, asked my husband if he would like a beer and handed me two tins of sardines.They were, he said, “really good ones.”— Leslie SchulteIllustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.Melissa Guerrero and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com.Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. More

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      Christie, Recalling Sandy, Questions DeSantis’s Views on Hurricane Aid

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      Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and a possible 2024 presidential candidate, is raising questions about how a fellow Republican with presidential ambitions plans to handle federal aid after a hurricane.In an interview last week, Mr. Christie noted that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida had sought federal support for cleanup after Hurricane Ian — and could seek additional aid through a congressionally approved package — despite having voted against federal aid for Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and other states when he was a member of Congress in 2013.“I remember at the time his argument was, ‘I won’t vote for this because they’re not paid for,’” Mr. Christie said of Mr. DeSantis’s approach to the funding for the Sandy aid package, which totaled nearly $10 billion. “I think those are symbolic votes and they feel like they can get away with those votes.”He questioned whether Mr. DeSantis would still maintain that a federal aid package must be clearly paid for now that he is managing the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. “I trust as governor that he’ll act like a governor and not like a congressman,” Mr. Christie said. “As a congressperson, you can sit down in Washington and make symbolic votes,” he added. “When you’re governor, you have to look eye to eye to the people who have lost everything.”It is not hard to imagine a scenario in which both Mr. Christie and Mr. DeSantis are candidates in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Neither has formally announced a candidacy. But Mr. Christie has made clear he is considering one, and Mr. DeSantis has become a focus of some Republican donors who are looking for an alternative to former President Donald J. Trump.A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis declined to respond directly to Mr. Christie’s remarks or to speak with a reporter by phone. He pointed to a list of actions the State of Florida took to address the storm’s impact and remarks the governor made on Fox News.“Nobody has done more to stand up to the administration than me in Florida over the last year and a half, as you know,” Mr. DeSantis said in the Fox News interview about his meeting with President Biden. “But you’ve got to be willing to work together to help folks.”Mr. Christie rejected comparisons between Mr. DeSantis’s meeting Mr. Biden and his own interactions with then-President Barack Obama during the Hurricane Sandy response in 2012, suggesting that the situation then was more intense and politically fraught. At the time, Mr. Obama was an incumbent president running against Mitt Romney, whom Mr. Christie had endorsed. Some Republicans close to Mr. Romney took issue with Mr. Christie for meeting with Mr. Obama, and Mr. Christie responded that he was doing what was right for his state.“It’s a whole different level of attention,” Mr. Christie said. “The level of pressure in 2012 was monumentally more, politically, than the level of pressure today.” More

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      DeSantis, Once a ‘No’ on Hurricane Aid, Petitions Biden for Assistance

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      As a freshman congressman in 2013, Ron DeSantis was unambiguous: A federal bailout for the New York region after Hurricane Sandy was an irresponsible boondoggle, a symbol of the “put it on the credit card mentality” he had come to Washington to oppose.“I sympathize with the victims,” he said. But his answer was no.Nearly a decade later, as his state confronts the devastation and costly destruction wrought by Hurricane Ian, Mr. DeSantis is appealing to the nation’s better angels — and betting on its short memory.“As you say, Tucker, we live in a very politicized time,” Mr. DeSantis, now Florida’s governor, told Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night, outlining his request for full federal reimbursement up front for 60 days and urging the Biden administration to do the right thing. “But you know, when people are fighting for their lives, when their whole livelihood is at stake, when they’ve lost everything — if you can’t put politics aside for that, then you’re just not going to be able to.”The tonal whiplash for Mr. DeSantis reflects a different job and a different moment — a Tea Party-era House Republican now steering a perennially storm-battered state dependent once more on federal assistance to rebuild. Yet even in the context of his term as governor, the hurricane has required Mr. DeSantis to test another gear.Gov. Ron DeSantis discussing Hurricane Ian on Monday in Largo, Fla. Since taking office, he has sought to position himself as a 2024 presidential contender.Chris O’Meara/Associated PressHe has, to date, often used his executive platform to elevate himself to Republican rock-stardom, positioning himself as a possible 2024 presidential contender with a series of policy gambits that can feel precision-engineered to maximize liberal outrage.His most recent stunt — flying undocumented Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard — reinforced that he is more than willing to turn the machinery of state against specific political targets. He has suggested that the next plane of immigrants might land near President Biden’s weekend home in Delaware.More on Hurricane IanOn the Ground: Before Hurricane Ian, Florida’s southwest coast was a place to escape the chaos. Now, the storm has turned the laid-back stretch of suburban shoreline into a strand of destruction.Lack of Insurance: In the Florida counties hit hardest by Hurricane Ian, fewer than 20 percent of homes had flood insurance, new data show. Experts say that will make rebuilding even harder.Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor, who as a congressman opposed aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, is seeking relief from the Biden administration as Hurricane Ian ravages his own state.Air Travel: Ian’s effects on flying, in Florida and beyond, are likely to continue through the weekend. This is what to do if your plans are disrupted.The present circumstances have inspired a less swaggering posture toward a leader whom Mr. DeSantis has long called “Brandon” as a recurring troll, aimed at the man he might like to succeed. “Dear Mr. President,” the governor’s request for a major disaster declaration and federal assistance began on Wednesday.“Ironically,” said David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, “there’s nobody in America that Ron DeSantis needs more than Joe Biden.”More than that, Mr. Jolly said, a governor who self-identifies as unswerving in his principles now finds himself with little choice but to push for storm relief actions “antithetical to his professed ideology.”“He held those convictions strong in the House,” said Mr. Jolly, who has been sharply critical of the party in the Trump years. “I doubt he will hold them as strongly in the governor’s mansion.”In 2013, Mr. DeSantis and Representative Ted Yoho, another hard-line conservative, were the only House members from Florida to oppose the Sandy package. For Mr. DeSantis, who represented a coastal district in eastern Florida, the vote at once established him as an eager combatant from the party’s ascendant right wing — he was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus — while at times placing him on the defensive back home.In a local interview that year, Mr. DeSantis said the bill contained “extraneous stuff” that could not be classified as emergency spending. “I never made the point of saying we shouldn’t do anything,” he said, adding that he could have supported a leaner package focused on immediate relief. Asked then if he would vote against a relief package that affected his own district, Mr. DeSantis was noncommittal, suggesting he would support a responsible plan.Through the years, critics in both parties have accused Mr. DeSantis of applying this standard selectively. In 2017, as he was poised to run for governor, Mr. DeSantis supported an aid package after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria as places like Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico strained to recover.His 2018 primary opponent, Adam Putnam, made an issue of Mr. DeSantis’s voting record during the campaign. Storm-weary voters, a Putnam spokeswoman warned then, should protect themselves against “further destruction at the hands of Hurricane Ron.” Mr. DeSantis’s congressional office denied any inconsistency at the time, rejecting a comparison between the two disaster packages and saying he had supported emergency spending “when immediate and necessary.”Asked about the governor’s past positions on Thursday, a DeSantis spokesman said the administration was “completely focused on hurricane response.” “As the governor said earlier,” the spokesman, Jeremy T. Redfern, said, “we have no time for politics or pettiness.”Some Northeastern lawmakers, including Republicans, have not forgotten how Mr. DeSantis and some of his peers responded when the New York area was under duress. “Year after year, we had given them billions of dollars,” said Peter King, a former Republican congressman from Long Island, alluding to aid packages for Southern states and calling the resistance to Sandy relief his angriest moment in office. “Every one of them comes to New York to raise money. They either go to the Hamptons or they go to Manhattan. And both areas were devastated by Sandy.”This week, Mr. DeSantis said he was “thankful” for the Biden administration’s efforts so far, moving to place himself in the tradition of above-the-fray leadership from past Florida governors who negotiated catastrophic weather events on their watch.President Biden on Thursday at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington. He has emphasized that he and Mr. DeSantis are working together.Kenny Holston for The New York TimesThe president and the governor have each made a point of saying publicly that they and their teams are in touch. “He complimented me. He thanked me for the immediate response we had,” Mr. Biden said on Thursday, suggesting that any political conflicts with Mr. DeSantis were irrelevant in these times. “This is about saving people’s lives, homes and businesses.” (In February, Mr. DeSantis baselessly said Mr. Biden “stiffs” storm victims for political reasons, insisting that the president “hates Florida.”)Haley Barbour, a Republican former governor of Mississippi who presided over the state’s response to Hurricane Katrina, said there was nothing inherently inconsistent about a conservative governor seeking federal storm money. “People think this is a role for the federal government — that some disasters are too big for the community to bear the cost to get back to where you need to be,” he said.Besides, he suggested, Mr. DeSantis and the White House suddenly had something in common. “Biden likes to say, ‘Build back better,’” Mr. Barbour said. “Well, that’s what Florida wants to do.” More