Roberts groused that Carcieri administration officials rebuffed her offers of assistance and her advice that the state Emergency Operations Center be activated.

She said, “This is New England. We have snow. I understand we can’t control nature. The timing of the storm was difficult. But we should be able to respond to a situation like this more effectively.’’

You perhaps thought Carcieri’s Iraq/Kuwait trip made Roberts acting governor. But a 1992 constitutional amendment deleted wording that put the lieutenant governor in charge whenever Number One was out of state. Indeed, Roberts said she hadn’t known Carcieri was going away until she saw news accounts that he was already abroad.

No one can know for certain how much of an impact Roberts might have made had Carcieri aides been more welcoming yesterday. She said she could have assisted in coordinating and communicating. “The public in a situation like this wants to know who’s in charge, wants to know what’s happening.’’

It’s no surprise to me that a GOP administration would keep a Democratic lieutenant governor at arm’s length. Hello, this is politics.

Roberts said she tries to work across party lines. “I don’t think this is the kind of situation where we stand on turf. I think this is the kind of situation where [it’s]‘all hands on deck.’’

To blunt Roberts’ attack, the administration offered a tableau of several officials, including Transportation director Jerome Williams. But the news conference was short on star power. The first words, from someone you wouldn’t recognize in a million years, were, “Good morning, my name is Brian Stern. I’m Governor Carcieri’s chief of staff.’’

Stern said, “Governor Carcieri and I share the frustration and anger of every Rhode Islander.’’
Hmm. You might think, “Great! SO WHY DIDN’T YOU DO A BETTER JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE?’’

Stern & Co. tried to put the best face on the situation: It snowed hard, schools and businesses emptied, there really were plows out there, Roberts’ help wasn’t needed because by then things were getting better etc.

And maybe the governor’s guys had a point. But I don’t imagine many Rhode Islanders were in the mood to hear what must have come across as bureaucratic excuse-making.

This was a day for citizens to vent about Team Carcieri’s performance, and Elizabeth Roberts was more than willing to do it on their behalf.