(Long Island, NY) For a third day in a row, a group of eleven lawmakers refused to show for a meeting in Nassau on the week of February 6th, which resulted in no work being done. A dispute over the leadership of the Nassau Legislature has resulted in the “no-work” situation since early January.
In an unrelated story, the Islip Supervisor Pete McGowan has had one million dollars worth of campaign funds frozen due to allegations of improper use. In a not-so-unrelated story, 2003 saw the arrest of Fred Towle, Jr, a republican legislator in Shirley who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes. It was the start of a large probe into political corruption, which has brought sixteen convictions so far.
What is it about Long Island, anyway? Scratch that, what is it about politics in general? Look at the amazingly wide range of scandals, from the Tom Delay illegal-contributions-and-casino scandal all the way down to the flap over Nassau Deputy County Executive Peter Sylver, who was convicted of using his county credit card for thousands of dollars in personal spending.
Doubtless there are some honest politicians out there. Wherever they are, they should speak up once in a while. They really should make a noise or wave a flag to let us know they are still breathing. Voters worry about them, as they seem to be seldom heard. Are they dead? On vacation? Hanging out on golf courses with famous televangelists? Where did they go?
There are of course, many varying solutions to the problem of political corruption and inaction. The first of many solutions should be to hold our politicians to the same standards as everybody else. If you don’t show up for work, you get fired. That takes care of the Nassau republicans fairly quickly, eh?
The Pete McGowan problem—allegedly mismanaged or improperly used campaign funds—can be solved by a nationwide cap on campaign coffers for any and all elections. Let’s call it a federal law limiting any campaign funding for public office to half a million dollars. This would force politicians to get creative with the money they have, and maybe even start talking about—gulp—real issues facing the country. They might even start saying things ordinary people would really listen to—and vote for.
Tom Delay’s scandal can be fixed with a nice healthy prison sentence policy for anyone who misuses their campaign money, tax dollars, etc. Call it the elected official version of the “three strikes” policy. We have regular (read: nonelected) people in federal prisons for violating the “three strikes” rule; one guy got a hefty federal sentence for stealing a slice of pizza, because that slice was his third strike. Are we really letting the politicos have a better deal with the punishments because they wear suits and ties? That’s not the spirit of the law, but you can bet it’s the reality. Let all those dirty drug addicts and illegal gamblers get tossed into nasty prison cells—those democrats and republicans who break the law are getting comparative slaps on the hand. After all, they only stole (oops, misappropriated) YOUR tax money. That guy with the slice of pizza doesn’t sound so bad now, does he? He did hard time for that slice, friends. What about YOUR slice?
When it comes to using your government credit card for personal use, pleading guilty shouldn’t help you at all. The U.S. Military can court-martial service members who do just what Peter Sylver did. You get the point; do I really need to ramble on about this one?
My final bit of advice also takes a lesson from the U.S. Military. Instead of electing these officials, who spend gigantic sums of money to convince you “I’m number one, and the other guy is a schmuck,” we should turn this whole political process on its head and end the election system. Instead, why not institute a governmental DRAFT policy where people would be required to register for Selective Service. When your number is called, you must go serve as governor, dog catcher, whatever. Of course, just like the military, you’ll have to go through a boot camp of sorts and then a lengthy training process. It would cost money, but chances are the people who get drafted would do at least as good a job as the pinheads that are currently getting arrested and sentenced for their misdeeds. For all their “qualifications” they aren’t paying as much attention to the business at hand of running the government as they are lining their campaign coffers, arranging reelection campaigns and filling their pockets.
All that’s needed to prove me wrong here is for those honest politicos to speak up and let the rest of us know that the bad men are really in the minority. Oh, and while you’re at it, since you’re up moving around and all, make something happen. Get a road paved or oppose these stupid tort reform laws or end imminent domain or something.
You can speak up any time now.
