Speech: Crisis creates leaders

Americans should come together to help victims of Hurricane Katrina,

just as they rallied around New Yorkers after the Sept. 11 terrorist

attacks, New York First Lady Libby Pataki said Wednesday.

Pataki discussed the events of Sept. 11 publicly for the first

time in a speech that headlined the first-ever Orange County

Conference for Women at the Balboa Bay Club.

By the time the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center

on the morning of Sept. 11, Pataki said, she knew it was an attack.

She described how her husband, New York Gov. George Pataki,

immediately began making phone calls and quickly mobilized the

National Guard and alerted hospitals to put emergency plans into

place.

“Government can play an extremely important role in times of

crisis,” she said. “I’m not a lover of big government, but

government’s job in times of crisis is to lead.”

She praised the way people from around the country offered aid to

New York, and she compared the government response to the

less-organized reaction to the recent hurricane.

“If we can draw two conclusions, it’s that we were clearly

ill-prepared for Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic aftermath, and we

clearly are not responding fast enough,” Pataki said.

But the outpouring of support for Katrina victims has been

staggering and may even surpass Sept. 11 and tsunami relief efforts,

she said.

The problem in areas struck by the hurricane is that local, state

and federal leaders haven’t worked well together, she said.

“Leadership in my mind is people standing shoulder to shoulder,”

Pataki said. “It’s people doing the American thing, which in my mind

is realizing they have common bonds.”

Pataki’s visit came as a surprise announcement Monday. The women’s

conference, organized by Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie

Daigle, was going to feature Ann Meyers-Drysdale, an ESPN commentator

and an Olympic medalist, but she had to bow out to call the WNBA

finals.

Several hundred women came to the daylong conference, which

included discussions on women in the community and in careers and

panel discussions on health, fitness, cuisine and community activism.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m really pleased,” said Jeri

Town, a property manager for the Koll Company in Irvine. “I think

it’s given me some perspective of what women can do in the community,

what impact we can have.”

Daigle’s effect in Newport Beach was apparent from the

well-attended conference that drew women who are current and former

elected officials from around the county.

Newport Beach Mayor John Heffernan said he pushed to get Daigle

appointed to fill a vacancy on the City Council because the council

had been all men, but a woman brings a different point of view. It

also changes the dynamics of discussions, he said.

“It’s not a fraternity house anymore; it’s not an old-boys club,”

he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 at o7alicia.robinson@latimes.comf7.