Opinion

Was she or wasn’t she?

On Oct. 29, New York was struck by a severe, uh . . .
weather event.

The tristate area was devastated.

But was it a “hurricane”? Well, if you’re asking Gov. Cuomo, maybe yes, maybe no.

As the Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas noted on these pages Friday, Cuomo was quick to call Sandy a hurricane while arguing last week for billions in federal aid.

Indeed, Cuomo said, Sandy was a more “impactful” hurricane than even Katrina.

Yet, just a few weeks earlier, his Department of Financial Services, which regulates insurers, insisted it was no such thing.

“Sandy did not have sustained hurricane-force winds when it made land in New York,” said DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky — and thus could not be considered a true hurricane.

Why the contradiction?

Because the stakes were different.

See, if Sandy is deemed a hurricane, homeowners have to pay higher deductibles when filing insurance claims.

Better, in Cuomo’s view, to let deep-pockted insurers take a bigger hit — no matter how “impactful” Sandy was or the terms of individual policies.

Said Cuomo: “Homeowners” — read: voters — “should not have to pay hurricane deductibles for damage caused by the storm.”

He added, threateningly: “Insurers should understand the Department of Financial Services will be monitoring how claims are handled.”

But then last week, at a press conference, Cuomo did a 180 — citing endless facts and figures, for 30 minutes straight, to prove that Sandy was the worst disaster since Noah set sail in his ark.

“Hurricane Katrina, which is the obvious comparison,” said Cuomo, “in many ways was not as impactful as Hurricane Sandy.”

This time, the governor was shaking his cardboard coffee cup, exhorting Washington to come to New York’s aid.

It’s to be expected that Cuomo would make a strong case on New York’s behalf — but it’s also to be expected that it be made in a principled way.

Searching out semantic loopholes and using them in an effort to cheat businesses that thought they were operating in a good-faith environment is not a game that the governor of the Empire State should be playing.

It’s simply not.

Sandy was a hurricane.

Or Sandy wasn’t a hurricane.

Pick one, governor.