Money, Power, Stupidity

So what is it about some politicians? They seem unable to do their jobs without putting their hands in the public till. Recently, it was Brooklyn Assemblywoman (now former) Diane Gordon who was convicted of promising to help a developer get a piece of land in her district in return for "her dream home".

Now former Newark Mayor Sharpe James can add his name to the list. He's been convicted on all five counts he faced in connection with rigging the sale of nine parcels of city land to his mistress at a dirt cheap price. She quickly resold them at a rather large profit. Both James and Tamika Riley face four to seven year prison terms under federal sentencing guidelines.

That the people mentioned here are Democrats merely shows that greed and corruption aren't the sole province of any one political party. The question, how the public can be safeguarded from such foolishness? The short answer is, we can't. After all, we elect these people and there is no foolproof way to tell ahead of time who will betray their oath of office and who won't.

The prospect of jail time for such actions seems not to deter those of a mind to gorge themselves at the public trough. No, the only potential remedy to the Sharpe Jameses and Diane Gordons is an electorate willing to cast them out at the first hint of corruption. For that matter, maybe we simply keep elected officials in their jobs too long, period. We re-elect office holders at an astounding rate.

If we lower that rate, maybe, just maybe they'll think twice before doing something as dumb as these two did.