In recovering from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey has done a magnificent job in getting much of its devastated shore back in condition for the economically all-important summer vacation season.
Republican Governor Chris Christie scored well-deserved praise for steady, no-nonsense leadership during the immediate aftermath of the crisis and in the recovery period. In embracing President Obama, Christie put the priorities of the Garden State ahead of an embrace of the national Republican party.
Normally wise-cracking Christie rose to the occasion in a downright statesman-like fashion.
My only gripe lies with the unfortunate tagline for the Jersey shore comeback ads -- created by the state's Brushfire Advertising -- that are in a massive and nearly unavoidable rotation in the New York and Philadelphia TV markets, which embrace Jersey viewers, as well as Baltimore, Washington and eastern Canada.
Christie looms large in the spots.
The ads hammer home the "Stronger than the Storm" theme. To me, that tag is way too triumphant.
There's no question that the rebuilding of landmarks such as the destroyed Belmar pier in the eight months since Sandy is a remarkable accomplishment. Sandy, however, is but a taste of what will come in the future of climate change and rising sea levels.
Christie has said that Sandy "is probably going to the be worst that we've ever seen." That's an idle supposition.
What happens when Sandy II revisits the Jersey shore, bringing more destruction and heartbreak?
What happens if a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul is sitting in the White House during the next hurricane/superstorm disaster, and decides to pressure Congress for budgetary offsets to pay for recovery? Will the state dare declare once again that it's stronger than the storm?
Here's to a robust summer for the Jersey shore and the New York beaches that were hard hit by Sandy.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
Public Strategies Washington has added Abbie Sorrendino, a former aide to now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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