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Today’s Washington Post article about the ongoing federal public corruption probe in Prince George’s County, Maryland, shows exactly how that local government has been corrupted by political patronage. The article is headlined Arrests in Pr. George’s probe expose ties between politicians, liquor officials. It is a detailed account of how political patronage is connected with public corruption in local government.
Today’s Post article makes numerous connections between the county’s Democratic Party Central Committee membership and the alleged corruption. That is accurate in PG County, but… Corrupt public officials are political party chameleons. They will adopt whatever political party affiliation they need to get elected or appointed to positions that enable them to enrich themselves and those who pay them off. Likewise, those who will bribe public officials will adopt whatever party affiliation they need to get close to those officials.
Whether the industry is liquor or real estate development or almost anything else, if it generates money, there will be those in it who will try to corrupt public officials for personal enrichment. And there will be corrupt public officials standing by with hands extended, happy to receive the cash in return for preferential treatment.
A big issue is that the electorate accepts this corruption as the status quo. They refer to the corrupt public officials as friends and reliable. They forgive the bribes because, well, their corrupt politician friends work so “tirelessly” and are deserving of a little extra because the public position pays so little.
I say, cut off their noses, put them in a bag with wild ferrets, and throw them into the Tiber.
Comment by Dan — November 21, 2010 @ 10:52 am
“Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs”?
Comment by Bill — November 21, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
So true, Dan. Remember the local official who told me, in an email that I keep, that if some of the folks on boards like LCDC get some illegal benefits for themselves or their friends, that’s ok because they donate a lot of their time? He was serious.
This “look-the-other-way” attitude is how we’ve ended up with the corrupt, out of control government we have and deserve. We didn’t insist on honesty and we did not take the uncomfortable actions when we should have.
Comment by mary — November 21, 2010 @ 1:31 pm