Brooks and the Legislature. Courageous or Cowardly? I go with Cowardly
I picked up the Messenger Post newspaper a couple of days ago and came across Benjamin Wachs’ column suggesting, no, stating that Maggie Brooks was courageous because she “closed” the Budget gap.
Courageous? COURAGEOUS? Is he out of his freaking mind? Underhanded back door politics don’t pass for courageous in my book. Seriously. Let’s have a look.
His argument is that she did something. He uses readers in the D&C forums to show that there are no real ideas out there and, per him, the Democrats don’t have a plan.
With that background, Mr Wachs’ writes this drivel:
What Maggie Brooks has discovered is a sad law of American political life: Voters loudly demand courageous, principled leadership, and then punish anyone who provides it.Let the record show: In proposing a realistic solution to our county’s long-term structural deficit, Maggie Brooks stood up to the Rochester Business Alliance, one of her key supporters. She has defended her poorest constituents in the city of Rochester and the Rochester City School District at the expense of far wealthier suburban schools – one of her political strongholds.
That’s courage.
When I think of courageous , I think of - Oh Truman - and Army desegregation or firing MacArthur. Johnson writing off the South electorally but supporting Civil Rights. I see Kennedy blockading not bombing Cuban Missiles. I see Sophie Scholl and MLK. I see Lincoln appointing his political opposition to his cabinet. I see government and corporate whistleblowers. I see people who at great personal or professional risk putting the greater good ahead of their own private agendas.
Maggie personal risk? She has no opponent. She loses nothing - she will likely coast to a victory and we have 4 more years. The Lockstep legislature? Thanks to our inept local Democratic “machine” (see the no opponent comment previously) not all county legislature races are even being contested.
Courageous is about doing the difficult and demanding, not the easy.
In my mind - for Maggie to be deemed courageous she would have had to compromise with the Democrats. Actually use some of their ideas, actually share credit. She would have had to FULLY engage the community. Not at the 59th minute of the 11th hour, but say last year. She would have had to keep the discussion in the center of the public eye.
A resolution passed at the last minute with no community engagement is not courageous - it is cowardly.
Maggie and the Lockstep Legislature are not even close to being courageous here.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but I fail to understand how Maggie “stood up to the Rochester Business Alliance.” I don’t recall any direct affect on the business community from the FOUL plan, one way or the other. Can someone clear this up for me?
let’s keep in mind that wachs is a minor league writer for a minor league paper. and if you take the view that the d and c is a minor league paper, that leaves the post at double a. wachs also missed the boat on the empire zone reform legislation claiming dave koon was ‘out of touch’ with local issues.
BS BS BS BS BS BS. They zapped the suburban school budgets because their lawyers know that the Maintenance of Effort provision in the recent state education funding increase prohibits reducing city school budgets and funding… They’re not protecting city schools, just hitting the least protected target.
[...] Maggie apologist Benjamin Wachs was not there. I was told it is a long commute from the coast on which he actually lives. Does he actually live in Rochester? [...]