The Power Of Incumbency and How You Pay For It
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- October
- 30
I’ve just checked Andy Spano’s campaign contributions. It amounts to 126 pages, the length of a short novel. The total take for this election cycle? More than $3 million.
But what the records don’t show is the shadow contributions paid for by taxpayers. That’s the money that goes into bogus press conferences, press releases, mailings and vote-getting gimmicks that ostensibly have to do with important county issues but are transparently timed in the weeks, days and hours leading up to election day. Spano’s staff, whose salaries are paid for by the citizens, are not supposed to be engaged in electioneering.
So one might question a letter dated Oct. 19 that was written by Spano’s deputy, Sue Tolchin, and mailed to South Salem residents. Accompanied by a brochure, the letter purports to explain Spano’s controversial affordable housing settlement which calls for the county to spend at least $52 million to build, buy or lease 750 units of housing in 31 mostly white communities.
Because this issue has bitten Spano in the backside, one might conclude that the purpose of the correspondence was more about politics than policy—and that it was done on the taxpayers’ dime.
It begins this way:
“Dear South Salem Resident:
“It has come to our attention that there is a great deal of misinformation about the fair and affordable housing settlement that was recently passed by the Board of Legislators. Because of this, we have put together the enclosed brochure that will give you the facts about what the settlement means and what it does not mean.”
Note that Tolchin puts the settlement at the feet of the Board of Legislators. Spano negotiated the deal and then put a gun to the board’s head to pass it quickly, even pulling out the race card to shame them into action.
Spano should reimburse the taxpayers for the cost that went into this. Come to think of it, he should also make good on the Columbus Day Weekend discounts he gave to Bee-Line bus riders.
He can afford it. He’s got more than $3 million.
This entry was posted
on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:49 am by Phil Reisman.
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Phil Reisman is a veteran journalist and native of Westchester County. He began his career in 1977 as the head copy boy of a startup New York City newspaper that quickly went belly up. Reisman was not to blame for the newspaper's failure, or so he claims.
Hey Phil: Could you ask your buddies over on the editorial page how they managed to endorse Andy Spano and not say ONE WORD about the housing case? the county takes U.S. money, misspends it, and gets sued. Spano tells everyone the lawsuit is frivolous, then demands that it be settled, now, and to disagree is racist. They can endorse anyone they want, but to ignore the biggest isue in the county is disengenous, to put it kindly.
Don’t ask Phil to upset the Editors.
They have their own universe, apparently.
If you ever read Gibbon’s “The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire”, it will raise your IQ 20 points, just getting throught the language (It did mine), but more important it will hip you up to doings that seem very deja vu.
If you think giving a TARP stimulus to the guys who just wrecked our future is stupid, or that giving “Cash 4 Clunkz” seems suspiciously like “Bread & Circuses” you may just be on to something.
Gibbon tells us about the time the Praetorian guard put the Emperorship up in a lottery. Whoever would promise the biggest handout of gold to the Praetorians, would be immediately elected emperor by acclamation. The prestige of the office was such, that several wealthy Romans put in bids.
The winner, a very wealthy man, depleted his entire fortune paying off the Praetorians, who immediately realized they no longer needed him. Within a week, he was slaughtered in his bed, and the offer was renewed.
The amazing part is that there were indeed, still takers.The exercise repeated several times over, with the Praetorian guard becoming so wealthy that many quit, and moved to north Africa, to live like kings on noble estates.
Why do the names “Rahm Emmanuel” and “Valerie Jarret” come suddenly to mind?
(Spanotolchin, the Monster with 1 1/2 heads, is not in the same league).
Whew, ...
Spano was voted out.
The Praetorians didn’t have to take him for a long golf outing, after all.
Wonder what Tolchin’s gonna do?
Move in to Drum Hill, probably.