Tobin on Political Patronage
Well, I’ve so far stood aside and munched on my popcorn while Exile and others have
taken the D&C’s Tom Tobin to task for being so…well, Tobinesque.
But today I found something on the D&C’s political blog that blew my mind:
Patronage is a joke
Political patronage always seemed to me about the worst of government’s many bizarre practices
(snip)
And it’s a foolishness spread throughout state government - for instance, Republican Sean Hanna is leaving the regional directorship of the Department of Environmental Conservation because a Democrat, Eliot Spitzer, is now his boss. It’s hard for me to see how one’s political views affects the running a regional office of a state environmental agency.
OMG. Where to start? Monore County, under the rule of Maggie Brooks Steve Minarik, is one of the most patronage-laden set of governments I’ve heard of. Since starting RT, we’ve heard of Minarik’s cronies and appointees getting positions throughout the county’s various departments as well as throughout the GOP-controlled towns. This local patronage is pretty much “baked in” throughout the county, top to bottom.
Yet the only example Tobin can cite is Sean Hanna and the state DEC?
And speaking of, I can’t beleive Tobin, whom I believe to be much smarter than this, wrote:
It’s hard for me to see how one’s political views affects the running a regional office of a state environmental agency.
(Taking a moment to share the stunned silence with y’all. All set? Ok.) Because, hey, there’s absolutely NO detectable difference between the way Dems and the GOP view and approach the environment.
It’s not like the GOP is consistently the party that’s opposed or downplayed the idea of gloabal warming, or crazy, crazy things like regulating the amount of pollution companies are allowed to pump into the air and water.
Oh wait, they ARE. Individual Republicans may be environmental, but it seems like something must happen to them once they get elected and have to toe the party line.
Now, I agree– political patronage does suck. But let’s focus locally first, and on political appointments that don’t make any sense at all, instead of ones that are kind of intuitive.
Related posts:
Well, I thought I would be the first with this breaking bit of news, but it looks like Tobin has beaten me to it. A couple of weeks ago, I discovered from a fairly reliable source that 9 of the 11 Directors of the regional DEC offices were to be replaced. Unable to find substantiating evidence to support this, I did not post, but if Tobin says it’s true, then, by gosh, it must be. But seriously, folks, here is the link: http://nyoutdoornews.com/articles/2007/05/17/news/news3.txt
“It’s hard for me to see how one’s political views affects the running of a regional office of a state environmental agency.â€ÂÂ
And since Mr. Tobin brings up this issue, may I just add that our very own, Sean Hanna, is not a hunter and I question what his qualifications actually are, other than his ability use his office for political work. Sorry Sean, new sherriff in town !
I don’t read the D&C, so my only exposure to the Tobinesque Mr. Tobin has been here on RT. And here, on RT, I have seen so many moronic things written by Mr. Tobin, that I just have to wonder how you could write “I can’t beleive[sic] Tobin, whom I believe to be much smarter than this…â€ÂÂ
I know my sample of Tobin’s writing is biased. I know that I see his writings only here on RT. And yet I have seen enough moronic statements from Tobin to believe he is NOT “…much smarter than this…â€ÂÂ
Yeah, Exile yells at me for giving people too much credit too. It’s my Achilles heel. stlo7 just thinks it’s funny.
We only include his dumbest posts. He makes sense about half the time. At least he doesn’t talk about gangsta rap as much of some of the others over there too. I’m so sick of their anti-rap campaign .