THE GOVERNOR
Crisis Management Skills May Shape Political Future
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Friday, April 20, 2007
RICHMOND, April 19 -- It's the phone call that can change a governor's reputation and job in an instant.
After enduring a 14-hour flight to Tokyo, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and his wife had just settled into their hotel room when his top aides phoned at 1 a.m. Tokyo time Tuesday to tell him about the Virginia Tech shootings, 13 time zones away.
Kaine, who was starting a two-week trade mission to Asia, spent the next five hours pacing in front of televisions at the hotel, a coffee shop and an airport lounge as he waited for a flight home.
"Our first thought was, 'We need to get home,' " Kaine said this week.
Now that he's back in Virginia, Kaine is discovering what governors across the country have said is the hardest part of the job: taking control after a disaster or a major incident, such as the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.
As he tries to console a grieving state, oversee the response to the shooting and look for ways to lessen the chance that it can happen again, Kaine finds himself immersed in the biggest test of his 15-month-old administration.
The political stakes are enormous for Kaine, who is prohibited by Virginia law from seeking a second consecutive term. The public will form an opinion of Kaine's handling of the Virginia Tech incident. If people rally behind him, it could be easier for him to accomplish his other goals as governor.
"Given the unprecedented outcome, and losing 33 people, it seems he will be forever seen in the context of having been on the job as governor when this madman set loose," said former Pennsylvania governor Mark Schweiker (R). "That is why I would rush to say, Governor Kaine's comportment and presence and persistence is key. Handling those aspects well will serve him well."
In 2002, Schweiker oversaw the successful effort to free nine miners who were trapped in a southwestern Pennsylvania coal mine for four days. Schweiker's popularity soared after the rescues.
Frank Atkinson, a top aide to former governor George Allen (R), said the public can learn a lot about a governor during a crisis.
"You have to tap all your capabilities and your whole repertoire, from providing consultation and reassurance to dealing with the crisis-management aspect," Atkinson said.
As President Bush and then-New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, now a GOP presidential hopeful, discovered after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, effectively managing a disaster can have big political payoffs.
