April 10, 2007


Day One - January 1 - Everything Happens.
 
Day One Hundred - April 10 - What Happened?
 
 
WE BEGIN: The concept of "the first hundred days" as the time when a new administration would not only begin its work, but accomplish much of its agenda came to Americans' attention in 1933, in the depth of the Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as President on March 4.  Since then it has been loosely applied to the early achievements of other new administrations, federal, state and local, especially those with ambitious goals.

 
DIGRESSION: Prior to FDR, “the hundred days” referred to the period that began on March 20, 1815 with Napoleon's arrival in Paris and resumption of power after his escape from exile on Elba.  At that time, King Louis XVIII, younger brother of the guillotined Louis XVI, wisely fled Paris, and had better luck than his sibling.  The other European powers intervened to forestall other Napoleonic wars, and after defeating Bonaparte and the French army at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, restored Louis XVIII on July 8.  This time Napoleon, as a second offender, was exiled to St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.

Politics was more exciting in those days, and major losers were better treated than they were after World War II (the Nuremberg defendants, Quisling, Laval, Tojo et al).  That standard continues today  (cf. Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic).  On the other hand, Idi Amin died in peace in 2003 in Saudi Arabia, while Baby Doc, now 55 years old, has resided for twenty years in an apartment in Paris, a villa in Cannes, and a country, but is reported to be in dire financial straits due to an extravagant lifestyle and a costly divorce..  Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former Haitian priest and president, now lives in South Africa.  Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista, was elected president of  Nicaragua in 2006.
 
BACK TO ALBANY: Eliot Spitzer's first hundred days were a mixture of highs and lows.   They are neatly described in an article in a newspaper you do not usually read, the Albany Times-Union.  Rick Karlin's summary begins:
 
"Anyone familiar with the Capitol's culture of entrenchment, entitlement and inertia could have predicted that no one person could upend the entire system, even if they had a nearly 67 per cent voter mandate, as Spitzer did. "The governor the other day graded himself 3.8 on a scale of 4.  Others are less generous."
 
Link to Karlin's article for a brief summary of events, followed by a rundown as to how each Albany player fared in the first 100 days of the Spitzer era.
 
THE EDITORIALS:  The newspaper editorials have, as one might expect, varied views over the last few days.  .  The Post is skeptical, but friendly by their standards in ELIOT ADRIFT, published today.   We quote:

"Spitzer came to office after eight years as attorney general, having earned a reputation as an effective tough guy - the Sheriff of Wall Street, they called him, not without reason.  "But there is a world of difference between riding herd on publicly traded companies whose officers fear customer disapprobation above all else, and dealing with morally delinquent legislative leaders of the sort that hold sway in Albany.

"They are beyond embarrassment, and have been for decades."   (The italics appear in the Post.)
 
The News commented yesterday in THE SECOND HUNDRED DAYS,   We quote:

: "...Spitzer pushed through ethics rules for elected officials, engineered a workers' compensation system that's a better deal for employee and employer alike, and won passage of a law aimed at keeping the worst sexual predators off the streets when they get out of prison."  The News sadly notes that "Albany's incorrigible Legislature also defeated him on some fronts."

The Times dealt Sunday with one of the legislature's failures in JUSTICE ON THE CHEAP.  This quote tells the story.

"Here is Albany's trick: increasing pay for state judges is popular and urgently needed.  Increasing pay for legislators is unpopular and questionable, since they work part time.  So the Republican senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, and the Democratic assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, and their respective majorities are essentially holding the judiciary's pay hostage.".   Our own comment: To the legislature and its leaders, the judges are merely collateral damage in their effort to enrich themselves. The 212 pooh-bahs already receive lulus, expenses, leadership bonuses and per diem payments, both for Albany and other cities, in addition to their salaries, but the world is not enough to satisfy their unseemly avarice.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION
 
The Spitzer administration is well under way, with a number of good appointments, as well as a few political clinkers  In general, the appointees are substantially more qualified than those of the prior administration.  The staff in the first year is always better than the staff in Year Twelve (if there is one),  The most signal achievement was the Ethics Code the Governor adopted on January 1.  We hope his administration complies with the spirit as well as the letter of the code.

The legislative record is mixed, which is likely when you have good guys, bad guys and influence peddlers. We give the conventional scapegoats some credit for compromising certain issues to come to agreement on issues they were unable to resolve in prior years.  Query: are scapegoats necessarily innocent?

One area in which the governor has been faulted is dealing with the leadership in secrecy.  We don't mind that,.  If you want to get something done, you have to deal with the people who have the power to do it.  We agree with the reformers on most issues, and think they are extremely valuable antidotes to the vote-selling scoundrels who sit in gerrymandered districts.
However, at some point one must get serious, and we believe the governor was right to deal with the existing leaders elected by the legislators.  When the backbenchers rise in outrage and depose Silver and Bruno, Spitzer will be happy to deal with whoever they choose to take their places.  In the meantime, people should get real.

SUGGESTIONS FOR GOVERNOR SPITZER ON THE HUNDREDTH DAY OF HIS TERM

 We have a dozen relatively brief suggestions to make to the new governor, a good guy in substance but somewhat challenged in internecine combat.  We think our ideas, both substantive, procedural and stylistic, would make the remaining 1361 days of his term more productive and less stressful.  Some are easy to do, others would be more difficult.  The threshold question is whether he is open to suggestions from other people.  Some leaders are, others are not..
 
1. You are the most likely hope for reform in New York State, at least at the moment.  You are more honest and principled than most of the legislature, but that is modest praise.   Your good reputation campaign raised people's expectations, perhaps to a level that cannot be met.   Be realistic in what you undertake.

2. Financial responsibility is very important.  Do not spend money that the State does not have.  Avoid increasing the public debt, either directly or through authorities and public service corporations.  Remember the cost of money.  Do not rely on one-shots when incurring permanent expenditures.  Watch out for the privatization of HIP and its merger with GHI.
What will be the effect of those financial transactions on public health?   Who will personally benefit from the process?
Revert to what you did as Attorney General, to make certain that the public is fully protected.
 
2. It is not helpful for chiefs of state to use vulgar or obscene language in public, and practically everything you do or say either is public, or will become public.   You don't want to swear like a trooper, or sound like a schoolboy who wants to show that he is as tough as the big kids.  LBJ was profane privately, but vividly.  Watch out for cell phones in particular, you never know who is listening at the other end.
 
3. With regard to your ill-fated arrangement with Speaker Silver about the Comptrollership, your attitude should now be "Fool me once, it's your fault."  The speaker, however, was elected by the Democratic conference and not by you.  On the other hand, you were elected by the public, not by him or his peons in the Assembly.  Since you cannot liberate his vassals, have sympathy for their predicament. It is also better to deal with them en masse through him than as individuals.
 
4. Unless you plan to run a primary against the speaker in 2008, you should  be able to work with him.  You have the editorial boards and the literate public on your side, he has his troops, the lobbyists and their money for TV.   He has financial supporters and law firm colleagues.  His universe is narrower than yours, but more intense.  He also has a keen sense of the balance of power when negotiating, you should not rely to your detriment on anything he says, because shifting winds may override his commitment.  Many people in the business we have chosen have faced similar situations.
 
5. We repeat Rule 19 - Be kind to man and beast.  We know you are smarter than 99.9 % of the public, but that still leaves 18,000 New Yorkers who may be your equal or better, some of whom you will need to deal with.  People are unhappy if they feel they are not held in decent regard by others.  Just as each person has one vote, each person is entitled to respect.  At any rate, your gifts come from God, dad and DNA, and do not indicate greater worth as an individual.  (That goes for all of us mutants, but you're the governor, so more people are looking at the way you conduct yourself.)
 
6. Spend time in the rural and suburban parts of the state.  Do not confine yourself to New York City, and Albany via the state.  If you travel by public conveyance, you will meet a lot of people.  Listen to them.
 
7. Governor Pataki was good on parks.  Give your commissioners, Pete Grannis in DEC and Carol Ash in Parks, the latitude and resources they need.  And make Parks a full agency, not merely an “Office”.
 
8.  Understand how poorly the MTA has been run in the past, and how much money has been wasted on low-priority projects.  Watch out for the transit - labor - industrial complex, the latest spending machine.  Subject the behemoth to an intense management review.  Lee Sander's staff has a few wolves and sloths, help him dispose of  them, but make certain you find the right targets..
 
9. Express warmth and goodwill to the world, to the extent you are capable of doing so.   You have been very fortunate, and you should convey the feeling of gratitude to others, as well as your commitment to do your best to improve their lives through health care, education and employment..
 
10. Convert unneeded prisons to nursing homes, and rapacious nursing home owners to prisoners.

11. Don’t throw money at the schools until you change what they do with the money they now receive.  Many educational practices now followed are extremely unwise and unproductive.  There are people who know the score in education.  Find out who they are and consult them.  You already know as much as alumni of schools of education.  Just because your profession is law, do not underestimate what you could do with education if you addressed yourself to the issue in detail.
Do not hire someone with no pedagogical background and rely on him for education policy, no matter how high his IQ.

12. Get the judges a pay raise as soon as you can, before the controversy becomes further exasperated. Judical salaries should not be linked to the pay scales of part time legislators who wax fat on lulus, per diems et al.  Make clear your opposition to making the judges hostages to the legislature.
 


 
#364  4.10.07   wds