Case for Billionaires

To the Editor:

As one who was involved in local Bronx politics many years ago but left the scene for obvious reasons, I am utterly disgusted with the systemic corruption that continues to plague the citizen taxpayers of the City of New York.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn touts her "honesty" as though she is a whistleblower for identifying the initial two earmarks perpetrated by Council staff that were obviously fraudulent. Come now! These egregious actions would have inevitably been discovered, either by the Comptroller's Office or by some other oversight body, and Ms. Quinn plays at being the honorable one in this Council scandal that seems ripe to spread ever wider in the days ahead.

In fact, I reference a Daily News article dated April 17 regarding another improper financial impropriety initiated by Bronx Councilwoman Maria Del Carmen Arroyo. What a despicable bunch of lying, thieving hypocrites our elected representatives really are, but that is no surprise. The surprise would be if somehow Ms. Quinn walks away from this situation unscathed and has the temerity to seek the mayoralty in 2009.

You have to give Mayor Bloomberg his due because despite the politics of the position, a gifted billionaire doesn't need to steal discretionary funds to take care of his family. To my mind, term limits should be abolished and Mayor Bloomberg should be re-elected to a third term. At least the integrity of the highest elected position in the city would be maintained and secured going into the future.

MICHAEL ROSENBERG