We have a Rensselaer County Legislature and a county executive strutting around as if they've done something wonderful by putting on one of the worst performances in the history of budget creation.
We have communities in which elected government and citizen groups trade lawsuits like baseball cards, effectively immobilizing their municipalities.
We have a city government in Troy that effectively disenfranchises a chunk of the population because only the majority party is allowed a real say in creating a spending plan.
And, of course, we have Joe Bruno.
The Baron of Brunswick is a man who is happy only when everything is running precisely as he alone wishes it to run. If a member of the public or a news gathering organization asks for basic information, the state Senate majority leader flies into a snit. If a court rules that his actions are illegal and orders him to open up the books, he does, grudgingly and with many nasty utterances aimed at those who had the audacity to ask him to account for what happened to their money.
Let's pause here for the usual disclaimers about how much money Bruno has steered to local entities during his reign and, in the minds of some, how that buys him all the chutzpah we can swallow.
That's the first reaction from people who -- sometimes on their own, oftimes following a suggestion whispered in their ear -- have joined the cult of personality that thanks the senator for giving them your money by labeling such things as the Joseph L. Bruno Town Park in Hoosick Falls, Joseph L. Bruno Family Resource Center of the Commission on Economic Opportunity for the Greater Capital Region Inc., the Joseph L. Bruno Scholarship from the New York State Summer School of Orchestral Studies, the Joseph L. Bruno Theater in the Arts Center of the Capital Region, the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College, the Joseph L. Bruno Pavilion at Saratoga Spa State Park, the Joseph L. Bruno Biotechnology Development Center at Albany Molecular Research, the Joseph L. Bruno Lobby in the Greenbush Area YMCA ... . I can't go on.
These, obviously, are the things Bruno didn't mind you knowing about. Lots of other projects and entities he steered your money to he wanted to keep secret.
I don't know about his universe, but in mine when you don't want anyone to know what you and your cohorts are doing with public dollars with which you've been entrusted, there can be only one reason: You're ashamed of your actions.
That's why the reluctantly released list of "2004-2005 member item" financial grants made by state senators -- the information Bruno insisted was none of your business until a judge overruled him - makes such good reading.
Some of it is almost comical in its linguistic sloppiness, which makes you wonder anew about the education level, or at least the typing skills, of our legislators and their staff. Witness this description for giving $20,000 of your money to the Cobleskill Agricultural Society via Sen. James Seward, and I quote it exactly:
"Funding to pour new concrete piers to prevent further shifting and sagging of flooring; replacing floor joists which are very warn and damaged and replace worn flooring to prevent dangerous consition where public and snimals could go through "
Don't step on the snimals.
Most descriptions of what your money is to be used for are so vague as to be useless, employing such weasel words as "program support," "equipment purchase" and, my favorite, "support for expenses and operations." Or wildly divergent prices are used for the same purposes, such as the popular "automated external defibrillators" -- or "defibtillator" as another legislative genius termed it, which we are told cost $1,800 each. Or, $2,500. Or, $3,000, or any other figure a senator cared to put on them. They've used them all.
Many other items doled out to private organizations by Bruno's Senate followers may make you wonder why your tax dollars should be so used. Like, $10,000 to Bella Italia Mia Inc. of Queens for, among other things, "funding for programs that promote a positive image of Italians"; or $100,000 to the Westchester Arts Council to underwrite the "Senator Spano Arts Festival" (guess who diverted the money for that event), or two different senators giving the Long Island Philharmonic separate grants of $10,000, $20,000 and $25,000 to fund activities that, according to the vague descriptions provided, essentially are duplicative.
Earning votes by performing public service is one thing. Buying them with my money is quite another. And, as the media, the good government groups and others dig into this swamp of mutual back-scratching, it will be fascinating to see what keeps surfacing.
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