Quayle Travels Well-Worn Path to Ruined Town

The disaster-weary people of South Florida were visited by another government official and political candidate on Saturday in the person of Vice President Dan Quayle.

Wading through the axle-deep muck of the Harris Field tent city in Homestead, the vice president heard repeated complaints about squalid living conditions and tardy action from federal disaster agencies.

Quayle said the federal government had responded “within minutes” of an official request from Florida authorities. That, however, came four days after Hurricane Andrew rampaged through the communities along the southeastern tip of the state.

Tent city resident Ray Cyr, 50, complained to Quayle that, every time he calls the Federal Emergency Management Agency for aid or advice, he is told to call back in five days. The former resident of a Florida City mobile home implored Quayle to prod the federal agency to act faster.

“We’re doing all we can,” Quayle said, laying his arm on Cyr’s bare shoulder as lightning crackled in the darkening sky. “We’ll stay here until the job is done.”

Quayle also promised to fight Congress for the funds to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base, which was flattened by the storm. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted to deny the Administration’s $480-million request to reconstruct the 3,300-acre base from the ground up.

An independent panel and some Pentagon officials had questioned the continued utility of the base even before it was wrecked by Andrew. But Quayle said the Administration was determined to re-create it because of its strategic value.

“Its strategic location gives us a good staging area for any problems we would have in Latin America or Cuba,” Quayle said in response to a reporter’s question as he stood before the rubble of the airfield. “It is in our national security interest to have Homestead rebuilt and we intend to rebuild it, notwithstanding the committee’s decision in Congress. We hope the Congress will change its mind.”

Quayle declined to discuss the political implications of the decision. Republican strategists consider Florida a must-win state in any electoral scenario. But he did acknowledge that economic considerations were important. The base employed 8,400 military and civilian workers.