Romney Campaign ‘Hindering’ and ‘Impeding’ Hurricane Sandy Relief
Romney Campaign ‘Hindering’ and ‘Impeding’ Hurricane Sandy Relief
UPDATE: Mitt Romney continues to interfere with Hurricane Sandy response in an effort to use Sandy as an ‘opportunity’ to bolster his presidential bona fides.
Coming on the heels of the Romney campaign apparently confirming Mitt Romney’s earlier promise to shut down FEMA and move its duties to the states, the news that Team Romney’s token ‘hurricane relief’ effort is making things worse for disaster relief agencies is yet another example of how everything Mitt Romney touches – even disasters – end up a disaster.
Yesterday we learned via ABC’s Emily Friedman that Romney campaign was pitching in and gathering supplies to donate for hurricane relief:
Romney campaign will load storm relief supplies into Romney bus in Arlington Va today an will collect supplies at all VA victory offices
— Emily Friedman (@EmilyABC) October 28, 2012
All well and good except, of course, that it’s the opposite of what disaster relief experts advise you to do. In fact, they warn that such efforts actually ‘hinder’ relief. Had the Romney campaign bothered reading the Red Cross Web site to see WHAT was needed, or even simply asked someone at the Red Cross,they’d have known this.
And I quote from the Red Cross Web site:
Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints the Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items. Items such as collected food, used clothing and shoes must be sorted, cleaned, repackaged and transported which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel.
It ‘impedes’ relief efforts, it doesn’t help. The Red Cross prefers money because it’s far easier to handle, and can be spent where it’s most needed and on what is most needed.