Liberty's Blog: It wasn't Just Me:

Saturday, October 01, 2005

It wasn't Just Me:

I thought Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas presented herself well and did a great job communicating with the citizens of Galveston. She is a small town Mayor who mostly has deal with a crotchity city council, tight budgets, and issues of people putting their trash out to early. Her 15 minutes of fame came as she was facing a crisis of her town being potentially wiped off the map. She got out the information that needed to get out, she spoke clearly and with authority. She displayed leadership.

Kevin Moran of the Houston Chronicle also noticed along with many others.

In individual interviews on such shows as the Today Show, Nightline and on CNN, as well as during televised, twice-daily briefings for dozens of journalists covering the storm, Thomas appeared cool and collected. She was forceful in her pleas that citizens evacuate Galveston, poised to handle any question and genuinely concerned about the safety of all citizens, rich and poor.
The performances resulted in a flood of e-mails from around the world from people complimenting Thomas and other city officials for their handling of the emergency, particularly for the preparation and execution of an evacuation on publicly owned buses of more than 3,200 poor and disabled people who had no
easy way to get out of town.

I get the feeling New Orleans wished they had this sort of leadership.

2 Comments:

On 10/01/2005 08:15:00 PM, Rhymes With Right said...: I have to be honest -- this hurricane could have had a serious impact on the 2006 gubernatorial race -- if only Bill White or Lyda Ann Thomas were to jump into the Democrat primary.

The Democrats don't have a credible candidate -- why not one of the two people who came out of Hurricane Rita looking cool, competent, and capable?
On 10/01/2005 09:00:00 PM, Liberty said...: Now, I'm scared. I think Perry and Strayhorn would be vulnerable against a real contender. I don't believe Lyda Thomas would leave Galveston for cold cruel Austin. I don't have any inside information, but this lady seems pretty attached to where she calls home. Either one as Governer would make for a better Texas Republican party. If nothing else it would wake them up.