Let’s Hear It for The Reformers
I have a natural distrust for self-anointed reformers. In most cases, politicians who cry for reform are merely trying to further their own political agenda. And they know that as long as they use the magic R word, the dim-witted public will immediately support their actions. Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, and newspaper editors ignore reason at the sound of “reform.”
Even worse, the politicians who cry reform the loudest are usually the biggest hypocrites. Recent history has borne this out.
Exhibit A, of course, is Client 9, the big bad reformer who liked to transport hookers across state lines and then make the beast with two backs while wearing black dress socks (look it up, it’s true).
Exhibit B would be the number two man on the reform ticket: David Paterson. As we all know, this guy admitted to having an affair, having a few affairs, and then having many affairs. Soon thereafter, he was caught using campaign funds for personal uses (including for hotel stays in Albany despite the fact that he lived 15 minutes away - I bet that had nothing to do with the many affairs to which he admitted). And then he also admitted to cocaine use.
Exhibit C would be Christine Quinn and the New York City Council. These bunch of reformers decried the use of discretionary spending (i.e. pork) and called for reform. Once elected, they apparently got around the new rules regarding pork by inventing fictitious budget lines to be raided for discretionary spending. It gets worse. According to the NY Daily News:
abuse of discretionary funds is at the heart of the ongoing probe by DOI and the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, whose investigators have discovered a shocking example of alleged fiscal trickery used to hide and obfuscate…. snip….
Already the investigation has paid off.
This week two aides to Council member Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) were charged with embezzling $145,000 from a nonprofit funded with discretionary funds, $14,000 of which came from fictional nonprofits.
Stewart, who funneled more than $356,000 into the group, has not been charged and denies wrongdoing….snip….
[The District Attorney] also made clear the investigation is continuing, and evidence that other Council members put money into nonprofits with whom they have ties has already surfaced.
Way to go, New York City reformers!
Exhibit D would be our local bar association and its president Tom Smith. As a part of their efforts to reform the method of choosing the Public Defender, they basically threatened local judges who were going to serve on a panel to vet candidates. As you recall, the bar association maintained that the only proper way to choose a public defender would be for THE BAR ASSOCIATION TO CHOOSE the candidate!!! Where I’m from, that would be called a crass power-grab.
According to these reformers, the judges would be violating their ethical code by participating in a political process. Recently, however, a judicial ethics committee unanimously determined that judges could sit on such a panel. There’s nothing like trying to intimidate judges AND THEN BEING TOLD THAT YOU ARE DEAD WRONG. Way to go local reformers!
Finally, I have to mention Jon Powers, the likely Democratic candidate for Tom Reynolds’s congressional seat. This is another young reformer who is trying to shake things up. Unfortunately, it was just reported that he was using campaign funds to pay his rent. According to the story, Powers took this inadvisable action because he figured that his home was his base of operations. What’s funny is that the congressional campaign guide from the Federal Elections Commission expressly forbids such a practice. OOPS! Memo to good government reformers: read the rules that exist before passing new ones.
I would make one other observations. Each and every one of the all star reformers I’ve mentioned happen to be Democrats. But I’m sure that is just a coincidence.
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