New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo dismissed the chief of emergency management after learning he used government workers to work on his home during Hurricane Sandy.
Steven Kuhr was the director of the State Office of Emergency Management. He was appointed to the Strategic Emergency Group job over a year ago. Before that he spent 20 years working as a deputy director for operations and planning for the Office of Emergency Management and the chief and division captain of E.M.S. special operations at the New York City Fire Department, according to The New York Times.
Mr. Kuhr was working in Albany at the time of the storm. It is believed he told the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management to clear a tree from his driveway at his Long Island home.
“I’ve got people sitting in their homes with two inches of snow outside, they have no electricity, no hot water, they’re sitting in their homes and freezing to death,” State Senator Martin Golden said. “This guy’s only worried about his own home? It’s sad. The governor made the right call.”
NBC News reports that Cuomo had been criticizing utility workers for being too slow in restoring power to customers from Hudson Valley to Long Island.
“Power continues to be a struggle,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Until every family has their power back, we’re going to continue to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to make that happen.”
https://tothecenter.com/2012/11/new-york-governor-fires-the-state-office-of-emergency-management-director/
