The (Strong) Medicine Man

I just thought of another "hero". And this one, folks, IS a politician; former New York City mayor, Ed Koch. Koch, at least in my estimation, was EXACTLY what New York City needed in 1977. At a time when the city had such things as "snow days", when it paid its huge municipal workforce to stay home when it snowed and paid those that did come in time and a half, at a time when other politicians such as Mario Cuomo, Bella Abzug, and incumbent Mayor Abe Beam gave mealy-mouthed responses to the 1977 power outage rioting, Mr. Koch came along and majorly kicked some butt. Now, did this fellow eventually wear out his welcome/deserve to be "retired"? Sure, probably (you could say that about most U.S. politicians, no?). But for at least a fairly large chunk of his tenure, Ed Koch was a pretty damn good mayor, I think.