The governor admits there are many factors in a huge rescue operation such as this, so he stopped short of putting the blame on any one person or administration. But still, he's frustrated at the slow rate of progress, considering so many lives are at stake. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and his wife served as Peace Corps Volunteers in Tunisia in the 1960's.
Doyle frustrated over lack of hurricane response
Doyle frustrated over lack of hurricane response
Says TV crews can get in, victims can't get out
by Jackie Johnson
While victims of Hurricane Katrina are stranded without food, water or basic medical needs, many people are frustrated in the slow emergency response, including Wisconsin's governor. After sending off Wisconsin soldiers who volunteered to help residents of hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, Governor Jim Doyle voiced his frustration with national TV crews' ability to get in and out of the destruction while innocent citizens starve to death. “I don’t mean to demean the efforts that people have been making, but I think a lot of people are just asking some basic common sense questions right now like why does the Today show do an interview of six people on the top of a building with a camera crew and the people are saying we can’t get out of there. I mean, somehow they got in there to do that interview you’d think they could get ‘em out of there.”
The governor admits there are many factors in a huge rescue operation such as this, so he stopped short of putting the blame on any one person or administration. But still, he's frustrated at the slow rate of progress, considering so many lives are at stake. Doyle refers to a TV interview with Harry Connick Jr., who's a New Orleans native, in which he reminisces about his hometown. Doyle says if we can get him in there for the interview, why can't we put those same efforts into getting the victims out. “When Harry Connick Jr. in then interview says, ‘Look. The roadways into the Civic Center were relatively open. I could just go get a truck and bring water in there.’ Why don’t they go get a truck and not only bring water in but put people on the truck and bring ‘em out?”
Doyle says he hopes that Wisconsin soldiers will be able to help in the effort to get the job done. “I hope with our group coming and other groups coming and particularly with some of the aircraft we’re sending down, the helicopters, I, the high-water trucks, I hope that what we’re doing is just going in there and getting people out.”
