Pataki Outlives Expiration Date
Tainted Milk of Government

By BRANDON L. WARD

Sir Isaac Newton theorized some 300 years ago that: "an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an opposing force."

From this observer's chair, a similar tendency is at play in all administrations - Federal, state and city. It's called political patronage: the process by which politicians perpetuate themselves in government agencies.

A recent New York Times article, "Pataki Creates Legacy, Filling Scores of Posts," pointed out how Governor George E. Pataki in his final months in office has appointed or reappointed hundred of officials to state boards, commission and authorities, insuring that his imprint on state government will remain for years after he's out of office. Some of these appointments to state boards and commissions carry terms that would not expire for years (in some cases, seven years). Of course, it is not far-fetched to suggest that these appointments are payback to his political contributors.

Like it or not, politicians exercise vast discretionary authority - from a position of almost complete independence in undoing or maintaining a policy of a preceding or incoming administration - in appointing non-elected officials (commissioners) to carry out the administration of government agencies.

From this observer's chair, there are two controlling forces that determine the nature of an administration: the philosophy of those who hold positions of power in the administration of government (by agencies) and the economic concern of special interests. The evidence supporting this claim is very straightforward. Consider Assemblywoman Diane Gordon; according to the criminal indictment against her, the Assemblywoman allegedly used her position to help a contractor obtain a plot of land in her district. In exchange for her influence, she reportedly requested some pocketbook benefits: a home valued at $500,000 in a gated community with the contractor bankrolling the deal. If the allegations are proven to be true, Assemblywoman Gordon may still get what she wished for, in a gated community called Rikers Island.

Obviously, elected officials who are accountable to voters sometimes succumb to the temptations and corrupting influences of power and plainly hog the trough, even when it's provided to them through public largesse. But not to worry: because, if you think politicians, those folks we elect, milk the system - think again.

Unlike elected officials, agency commissioners are the non-elected officials who are hand-picked by politicians to carry out the administration of government agencies. Not surprisingly then, some appointments are a result of a toxic brew of political favors, back-scratching and brown-nosing.

Remember Brownie, President Bush's man at the helm of FEMA when Hurricane Katrina washed New Orleans away? Michael Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been the college roommate of his predecessor, Joseph Allbaugh, and was seemingly made Deputy Director of FEMA as a result of raw cronyism. According to The Boston Herald, Mr. Brown was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. Even so, I read somewhere that Brownie is now a city employee. I guess individuals the likes of Michael Brown are what's known in some circles as the "connected guy" (figuratively speaking, of course).

In his book, "Politics," former Mayor Ed Koch tells a story of how he went about getting rid of an employee he hired as a result of political patronage. As he describes it, the employee, a woman sent by the Liberal Party on "the merits" of her fitness for the position, was hired to act as both a receptionist and caseworker in his office. She was required, like all employees in his office, to type her own letters. However, he quickly found out that she did not type well and was "not terribly energetic" about her work and fell behind in her cases. His decision was to get rid of her in spite of the risk of political peril. He conveyed his sentiments to the party boss, and the boss's response was, "there is a way ... I will find her a better job."

Certainly from this observer's chair that was seemingly the case with former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik. After all, before his career fell on hard times, this "lost son" brown-nosed his way up the career ladder from a 3rd Grade Detective in 1993 to nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security in 2004. However, living up to the Peter Principle, Mr. Kerik rose to his level of incompetence and in so doing proved Lord Acton's axiom true; power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

On balance, however, there are others, like Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, who are not bashful about using government power to do "good." They truly believe they have a moral obligation to do so.

According to Webster's Dictionary, reform is "to make better by putting a stop to abuses or malpractice, or by introducing better procedures." Unfortunately, in practical terms, the criteria with which one evaluates Mayor Bloomberg's reform of the city's public education system varies from parents to Teachers to the Chancellor. Indeed, when everything is make-believe, you don't know what to believe.

According to some critics, the administration's "reform" has not reduced the bureaucracy; instead, educators have been replaced with too many people running the system who have no background in education; public discourse and community input has been stifled, and veteran Teachers and Principals are being micromanaged.

Simultaneously, the administration's spin seems to suggest that all that matters is change, regardless of whether the change is for the better or worse. John Q. Public is encouraged to believe that progress is change and change is progress, and that's the end of it.

From this observer's chair, Sir Isaac's theory of inertia is all so true in politics. That is, things at rest tend to stay at rest. Hey, at times one must be sardonic about these matters. Needless to say, only time will tell what the promised reform of state government will resemble. Hopefully, it is not symbiotic: each one feeding off the others.

Brandon L. Ward is president of the New York City Municipal Chapter of Blacks in Government, an employee advocacy group. He is a Mechanical Engineer with the Department of Transportation. He can be reached at brandonward@nycbig.com.