Gov. Pataki discusses leadership during a crisis

>> week's office politics , former new york governor george pataki . we talked about working in bipartisan fashion during times of crisis and how he thinks fellow governor chris christie had the right approach in new jersey in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. here in the state of new york , not so much.

>> i am extraordinarily disappointed in the response. it is now more than well over two weeks after the storm and there are still people who have no power. to me that's inexcusable. but one of the things i learned, and i had everything from ice storms to hideous floods to blizzards to hurricanes, and, of course, september 11th when i was governor, is that the important thing is while people are still at risk, not to try to figure out and point fingers of blame, but to solve the problem.

>> this is going to take a huge undertaking to figure out how to put wires underground, how to build walls. i mean is that --

>> i don't think it's that hard. i really don't think it is that hard. i think it's been a failure of policy for a long time. i mean it is absurd right now, in very vulnerable areas, where decade, after decade, we have storms wipe out the entire electrical system, that we put up what was there before the storm. at enormous cost. it is just stupid, in my mind. that we don't take this opportunity, instead of rebuilding what was there, to look what we can do to make it more secure, as we go forward. because we know this is going to happen again. so let's bury the lines, let's have more reliable systems of transmission to get the power to places like the jersey shore . and long island. let's preposition generators at gas stations so if they lose power we're not going to have a fuel crisis as well as an electrical crisis. these are all things we know are going to happen again, and intelligent policy can protect us from.

>> mm-hmm. with regard to fellow governor of new jersey chris christie , and the way he handled this storm, and many have applauded his efforts to reach beyond politics at a very crucial time and just say i'm here for the people in my state.

>> at a time of crisis it's not a time for politics. it doesn't matter the politics, it doesn't matter the party, it doesn't matter the personality of the people who are working with. you are all in it together. and one of the things that really helped us get through after september 11th was that sense of unity. all of a sudden, the superficial differences that seemed to divide us as a people didn't mean anything. that's what leadership is about. it's not about pointing fingers during the crisis, it's not about playing politics during the crisis. it's about doing what is right to help those people in need until that crisis is over.

>> i know that you are a yale bulldog.

>> yes, i am.

>> which means this weekend is a big football game . i -- i think you're not going to give anything, though, to the crimson harvard --

>> i go to the harvard - yale game, i try to go every year and the last eleven years have been kind of disappointing. but hope springs eternal .

>> has it been eleven years?

>> yale has one once out of those eleven years.

>> oh.

>> but yale is a better school. and it has better students and i am very confident that despite the overwhelming odds against us, we will come hopefully succeed on saturday, you know, here at chadwick i'm surrounded by all these harvard guys.

>> that's got to hurt. but you have the corner office . that's all i've got to say.

>> and they're always -- i'm always challenged in the bet on the game, and they're being harvard guys they always are reluctant to support their school. but this year they're actually coming up to me and saying, hey, pataki, would you like to bet. i still will . odds are not you try to win.

>> i think you're the eternal optimist. i am the eternal optimist.