Of politics, power and press releases

The politics of power outages played out Sunday afternoon between Gov. Rick Scott and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum. Shortly before a late afternoon briefing at the state Emergency Management Office, Scott sent out a news release stating that the city had turned down additional assistance on cleaning up fallen trees.

The governor delivered something of an ultimatum to the mayor, telling him he had till 8 p.m. to accept an offer of state assistance for the removal of trees and downed power lines.

After the meeting, Gillum said he never declined an offer of state help.

"My highest concern continues to be the 100 percent restoration of power for the citizens of Tallahassee. And I appreciate and welcome the support from the Governor's Office and state agencies to help us advance to that end."

UPDATE: The politics of power? Gillum pushes back on critics

While the governor's office would later admit that part of the release was based on a "misunderstanding," they still sent out a second news release stating that Gillum and the city had accepted his offer of additional help.

Scott had called a meeting with city, county and state officials along with utility representatives, he said, "to get everyone on the same page" on restoring electrical power to the city. By 8:30 p.m. Sunday, more than 27,000 homes and businesses were still without power after Hurricane Hermine hit the city Thursday night.

“Let’s stop and think about it. Schools will not open on Tuesday. We have children who will not get to eat because of that. We have families that won’t be able to go to work because of it. That’s a significant issue,” Scott told reporters after the meeting. “A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck and they are either going to lose their job or have less money if we don’t have power. We have got to get everyone’s power back.”

8 p.m.: Gov's office release based on 'misunderstanding'

Utility officials told Scott they expect to have power restored to 90 percent of the city by nightfall Monday and 98 percent on Wednesday. More than 70,000 City of Tallahassee utility customers, along with 20,000 Talquin customers had lost power Thursday night. Since then, 98 percent of traffic signals have been restored.

Gulf Power Sunday afternoon sent 150 workers to Leon County to help with the restoration. Leon County has 32 public works employees working 12-hour shifts on removing tree debris and unsnarling power lines wrapped around fallen branches. The city has deployed 14 public works crews but it unclear how many workers that represent.  A Florida Power & Light official told Scott the utility is standing by to offer assistance if needed.

Scott said a state small business loan program will be activated.  Also, a damage assessment team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will arrive in Tallahassee Monday.  It will survey the affected counties beginning Tuesday.

Labor Day, brought to you by Hermine

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.