Time to take stock in both houses of Legislature
Time to take stock in both houses of Legislature

By Alan Chartock
Fri, Feb 18, 2005 2:23 pm

There are days when you just get angry. Everyone knows that in politics, the name of the game is to acquire power and then to perpetuate it. Like that proverbial sausage factory where you really don’t want to watch them making the product you’ve always liked to eat, it isn’t pretty. If you saw the process first-hand, you’d never touch the stuff again.
Politicians say one thing and do another. Particularly obnoxious are the majority sides in the Legislature who treat the minority parties [Democrats in the Senate, Republicans in the Assembly] like dirt.
The principles laid down in the United States Constitution under the 14th Amendment stipulate that everyone is supposed to be treated equally under the law. But when leaders – be they New York State legislators or dictators in the most brutal regimes in the world – get power, they do their best to limit the potential of anyone trying to take it away. In New York State, if you are represented by a Democrat in the state Senate you are, simply put, a second class citizen. It can’t be denied and the fact just won’t go away. We are talking reality and now it is more obvious than ever.
Gentleman Joe Bruno, the powerful [and nice] oligarch who runs the Senate has a problem and he knows it. His majority is slipping away. Even his power to redistrict the Legislature by asking a computer to draw districts where he can’t lose isn’t helping him. He is beset with problems, the biggest of which is the fact that New York State is a “Blue” place where there are more Democrats than Republicans. No matter how hard you try to redistrict to your advantage, you’ll finally hear the words you have been dreading for so long coming from your computer, “Sorry, boss, no can do. Not enough Republicans, too many Democrats.”
Boss Bruno also has an aging incumbent problem. No matter what the boss of the Legislature does, he cannot compete with the Almighty, who long ago established a rule that each of us would, for want of a better word, die. Even the powerful majority leader of the state Senate cannot legislate that Republicans may live forever. It is a rule of politics that people do not like to turn their legislators out of office, but when a state Senate seat loses an incumbent because of God’s immutable rules, then we have what is called an open seat and the Republican majority advantage is lost. To put it kindly and mildly, senators, like political columnists, have to grow older, and there is a lot of gray hair in the Legislature. There are some senators who are growing older and their seats will go Democratic.
This, of course, makes the Republican leaders more and more desperate to hold on, so they get stupid and make mistakes. We have always known that if you are in the district of a majority senator, you get more stuff. That’s because Republican senators get more stuff to give away to make them stronger. We call that stuff “pork.” Now it turns out that the Republicans have been caught with their pants down in the formerly Republican districts where Democrats are being elected. The pork the district was getting from Republicans has been taken away from the same citizens in the same districts because they are represented by Democrats. The desperate Republican leaders are making a big mistake. This will not make voters shrug and say, “I guess we did a bad thing by electing a Democrat.” Nope, they are going to get angry, very angry. There is a line in an old folk song that says, “Men will suffer, fight, even die for what is right ...” What could Gentleman Joe be thinking? All he’s going to do is infuriate voters of both parties all over the state. The fist seems to be emerging from the velvet glove and it isn’t pretty.
Even good men like Gentlemen Joe and his followers should know that they were not elected to the Senate to do bad things, and this is bad. The way out for these people is to take stock and fight passionately to keep politics clean and equal. Even if you are snorting that the Senate leader will get that wisdom when hell freezes over, you may be wrong. There are days when people who have made mistakes wake up and say, “What have I done? This isn’t why I was elected.” We are sending our kids to “die for democracy” in Iraq and here in New York’s Legislature, we are destroying what this country has always stood for. It’s time to take stock. By the way, the same goes for the Assembly.
- posted by Raymond @ 2/22/2005 10:04:00 AM

 
Walk a mile in Larkin's shoes
I, Publius
Walk a mile in Larkin's shoes
By Alan Chartock
Special to The Eagle

I've always strongly believed that in order to understand where another person is coming from, it helps to put yourself in his shoes.

Lately, I have been astounded by the unfair and unnecessarily cruel comments from some quarters about Peter Larkin and his retirement from the Massachusetts Legislature. It is not only Larkin we are talking about here, but many others whose motives are mischaracterized and sometimes purposely cast in a bad light. Some of these comments come from the usual suspects who just need something to complain about and don't care who they harm. I wonder whether they ever take a minute to think about the fact that someday they might be subject to the same unfair and unhealthy criticism that they have cast on another human being.

Peter Larkin deserves a lot of credit. He understood the system and the way in which the political game is played, and he brought home the bacon for his district. He made beneficial alliances with the then-Speaker, Tom Finneran. Hey, when you're in the big leagues, you sometimes have to play with those you may not always agree with. It's the nature of the beast. Larkin rose to one of the more important and visible positions on a key committee in the Legislature, yet he still found time to speak with constituents. Of course, he did take positions that some of us didn't like, but this political game is not for sissies.


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Nevertheless, I like him a whole lot. Peter Larkin is a fair and honest man who has done what is best for his family, his career and his constituency. His awards and honors are too numerous to list here, but they paint the picture of a man who has the courage to do what's right despite some of the most powerful interest groups holding sway in Massachusetts. He's been honored for his work on behalf of hungry women and children. He's been honored by the Jewish Federation and Catholic organizations as well. He's been honored for his work on behalf of retarded children. He's been honored for his work in preventing teen pregnancies. Not a bad record. There are legitimate issues to be discussed here. Larkin angered some people by running for re-election and then, right after winning, quitting. In so doing, he caused the expense of a special election.

I can only suggest that there comes that moment when you know you just need to go. Sometimes, things don't work out as neatly as you might have hoped. I've done it several times in my own life and I can relate. I once worked in the New York Legislature in a staff position and was making enough money to sustain my young family. One day I looked at Roselle and told her how much I hated my work. She uttered a single word, "Quit." Then she said, "We'll make out." I quit and have never looked back.


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Sometimes, you even lose money by doing it. I could have waited for the state "buyout" when I recently decided to retire, but once the idea came upon me that I could really leave teaching at a university I really loved and still have a wonderful job at WAMC and do my writing, I couldn't wait to make it happen. I assume that it was a combination of those things for Peter Larkin. He had been in the Legislature for a long time, he had lost a prime sponsor and friend, his influence was going to be diminished. Time to go, case closed. If there is anyone reading this who has not experienced just what I'm talking about, I would be surprised. It is one thing to be decent and give a few weeks' notice in a job. It is another to devote years doing something that you don't want to do anymore. We all know that Peter Larkin was investigating getting out, but it has always been a lifelong principle of mine not to leave a job until you have a way of feeding your family.

There are those who think that the revolving door between the Legislature and lobbying work is not healthy. That may be, but legislators are political experts. Who would you hire? Someone with no experience? A cooling-off period between leaving the Legislature and calling on your ex-friends might be a good way to go. But I've seen this work before. Someone gets out and "consults" instead of lobbying and everyone is home free. There are lots of ways to skin that cat. Lobby, by the way, is not a dirty word. Some lobbyists do great things for people in need. In closing, I offer Peter this advice. Don't worry about being called names. After all, it's your critics who have to look in the mirror.



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Alan Chartock, a Great Barrington resident, is president and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and a professor of communications at SUNY-Albany. His web site is www.alanchartock.com
- posted by Raymond @ 2/22/2005 10:02:00 AM