Ted Cruz running away again??

[Paul Nuttall]

This popped up and I had to check....yep looks like cruz is running away again before a winter storm

[MFOM]

This popped up and I had to check....yep looks like cruz is running away again before a winter storm

And what as a Federal Senator is he expected to do? This type of issue is almost entirely a local and state matter, he couldn't so much as order the setting up of a traffic cone in Texas, unlike say the mayor of a city who heads off to Africa when her city is burning to the ground.

[kdahm]

This popped up and I had to check....yep looks like cruz is running away again before a winter storm

And what as a Federal Senator is he expected to do? This type of issue is almost entirely a local and state matter, he couldn't so much as order the setting up of a traffic cone in Texas, unlike say the mayor of a city who heads off to Africa when her city is burning to the ground.

Be there, make reassuring mouth noises, show the peeple that you know what they're going through, not run away?

There are two reasons that Ted Cruz is still being elected:
1. He's a Republican in a Texas statewide office
2. The people the Democrats have been running against him have been pushovers.

[jemhouston]

I'm in Houston, I don't have problem with him leaving. If Texas has problems, better in DC.

[PLB]

I agree. Whatever the weather brings there's not much he, or anybody, could do to change it.

He has, however, responded.
https://x.com/tedcruz/status/2014828174652166310?s=20

Paul

[Johnnie Lyle]

Legislators are generally worse than useless in an emergency because there’s jack shit they need to do thanks to the Stafford Act and state equivalents, but politics demands they “look involved,” so some poor bastard gets pulled off the line to babysit them.

If one were actually needed, the worst place for them to be is ground zero, where they have no power, no comms and no ability to do jack shit.

About the most useful thing a legislator can do in an emergency is survive with major losses (personal, financial or both) so they’re angry as fuck at a bad response, and so ram the necessary changes through - that’s how we got SEMS (California’s State Emergency Management System, which is something we do really really well), and NIMS (the US National Incident Management System), which the Feds blatantly stole from California. It all came from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which showed how completely unable to coordinate FD/PD/EMS were, and that was fixed by a very angry state senator whose home was incinerated due to said failures.

If he was a governor, said criticism might have more weight, but even then we just need him to sign the necessary declaration.

Having done this a couple times, including one where I got a very rapid promotion to The Old Man, this whole thing is bullshit. Once the emergency declarations are signed (which is not the job of a legislator), everything flows semi-automatically. I say semi because it depends on emergency management staff, who are not elected. All the politicians do is get in the way.

If Ted Cruz was in DC or in TX, about the most useful thing he could do is care for his family and his neighbors. Or shovel some snow.

[Nightwatch2]

Legislators are generally worse than useless in an emergency because there’s jack shit they need to do thanks to the Stafford Act and state equivalents, but politics demands they “look involved,” so some poor bastard gets pulled off the line to babysit them.

If one were actually needed, the worst place for them to be is ground zero, where they have no power, no comms and no ability to do jack shit.

About the most useful thing a legislator can do in an emergency is survive with major losses (personal, financial or both) so they’re angry as fuck at a bad response, and so ram the necessary changes through - that’s how we got SEMS (California’s State Emergency Management System, which is something we do really really well), and NIMS (the US National Incident Management System), which the Feds blatantly stole from California. It all came from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which showed how completely unable to coordinate FD/PD/EMS were, and that was fixed by a very angry state senator whose home was incinerated due to said failures.

If he was a governor, said criticism might have more weight, but even then we just need him to sign the necessary declaration.

Having done this a couple times, including one where I got a very rapid promotion to The Old Man, this whole thing is bullshit. Once the emergency declarations are signed (which is not the job of a legislator), everything flows semi-automatically. I say semi because it depends on emergency management staff, who are not elected. All the politicians do is get in the way.

If Ted Cruz was in DC or in TX, about the most useful thing he could do is care for his family and his neighbors. Or shovel some snow.

Well yes, and no. It depends on what level and which position said politician/legislator is at.

US Senator - absolutely no authority to do anything nor any emergency role. His response was pretty good in that respect.

At other levels various positions do have some specific roles. I was also a Board of Directors member and did have some oversight responsibilities. And we did have some real emergencies.

Generally speaking my role was to take the questions from the press and keep them occupied so that others could get things done.

Politicians in the Executive Branch often do have some direct responsibilities. Although after making the necessary declarations and decisions the main contribution is to stay out of the way.

For all Elected Officials, ensure support as needed and keep the public informed.

I had previous training and experience in Emergency Management and had a lot more while in office. It is important, to your points, that Elected Officials know what their roles and responsibilities are and to keep to them.

There are a lot of Elected Officials who don’t, sadly. But I think most of us do.

The stuff did hit the fan a few times while I was in office and we all did get some pretty good workouts.

[Sukhoiman]

oh i see running away aye??? come back here and ill bite yer legs off!

[Johnnie Lyle]

Legislators are generally worse than useless in an emergency because there’s jack shit they need to do thanks to the Stafford Act and state equivalents, but politics demands they “look involved,” so some poor bastard gets pulled off the line to babysit them.

If one were actually needed, the worst place for them to be is ground zero, where they have no power, no comms and no ability to do jack shit.

About the most useful thing a legislator can do in an emergency is survive with major losses (personal, financial or both) so they’re angry as fuck at a bad response, and so ram the necessary changes through - that’s how we got SEMS (California’s State Emergency Management System, which is something we do really really well), and NIMS (the US National Incident Management System), which the Feds blatantly stole from California. It all came from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which showed how completely unable to coordinate FD/PD/EMS were, and that was fixed by a very angry state senator whose home was incinerated due to said failures.

If he was a governor, said criticism might have more weight, but even then we just need him to sign the necessary declaration.

Having done this a couple times, including one where I got a very rapid promotion to The Old Man, this whole thing is bullshit. Once the emergency declarations are signed (which is not the job of a legislator), everything flows semi-automatically. I say semi because it depends on emergency management staff, who are not elected. All the politicians do is get in the way.

If Ted Cruz was in DC or in TX, about the most useful thing he could do is care for his family and his neighbors. Or shovel some snow.

Well yes, and no. It depends on what level and which position said politician/legislator is at.

US Senator - absolutely no authority to do anything nor any emergency role. His response was pretty good in that respect.

At other levels various positions do have some specific roles. I was also a Board of Directors member and did have some oversight responsibilities. And we did have some real emergencies.

Generally speaking my role was to take the questions from the press and keep them occupied so that others could get things done.

Politicians in the Executive Branch often do have some direct responsibilities. Although after making the necessary declarations and decisions the main contribution is to stay out of the way.

For all Elected Officials, ensure support as needed and keep the public informed.

I had previous training and experience in Emergency Management and had a lot more while in office. It is important, to your points, that Elected Officials know what their roles and responsibilities are and to keep to them.

There are a lot of Elected Officials who don’t, sadly. But I think most of us do.

The stuff did hit the fan a few times while I was in office and we all did get some pretty good workouts.

By and large, a legislator has responsibility before and after the disaster, but not during. Their job is mostly around making sure the response elements have the resources they need to plan/respond beforehand, and the resources to rebuild and improve afterward. In the middle they may need to authorize funds, but the current disaster management system has done a lot to make sure the money flows as needed during the disaster, so the legislative need for emergency appropriations is increasingly niche.

As you note, the executive branch(es) do have more responsibilities in a disaster, but increasingly the tendency is to pre-approve a lot of the needed executive actions (like disaster declarations) to save time. The executive responsibility is increasingly more riding herd on the employees to make sure they are doing what is needed.

Things do get weird at the city/county level, especially when there’s not an elected executive, and so that may require more of an involvement than a purely legislative branch.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the case of politicians understanding their responsibilities (especially to stay out of the way), but also the unwillingness to tell the public how it works, and that the expectation of “looking involved” is counterproductive.