About government corruption

I'm reading a book called "Jersey Sting," about a bunch of crooked government officials and others who were caught in a sting in--believe it or not--New Jersey.

It is totally understandable how a situation like this comes about.  Our elected representatives--municipal, state, federal--makes laws, which are then interpreted by unelected bureaucrats, which create rules about zoning, safety, etc, which makes accomplishing anything slower and more expensive for business.  The creators of capital who want to build something realize that the only way to get anything done is to bribe the bureaucrats and politicians.  So they do, and projects go forward.  And everyone is happy, until they all get arrested and go to jail.

Don't get me wrong.  The crooks, particularly the elected ones, are betraying a public trust and richly deserve to go to jail.   But the system as it stands is an invitation to corruption which few can resist.

Incorruptible government officials are often worse.  My friend who wanted to build a house on acreage she owned in California was thwarted by a bureaucrat who arbitrarily denied her request and made it stick.  Perhaps she should have bribed him, but did not, but  he was implacably opposed to her project and was able to prevail.  So my friend now owns a piece of expensive land that is essentially useless to her.

Couldn't some of this be avoided by having fewer public officials, any of whom can throw a monkey wrench into any  plan?

And then there the environmentalists and the NIMBY folks.  Sigh.

Governor Christie is in trouble

It seems he went to Florida!  Florida!  and his constituents were hip-deep in snow!

Christie is drawing sharp criticism from local politicians and news outlets for vacationing at the same time as his lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, and for leaving a state senator in charge of the cleanup.

This is a cheap shot, the cheapest.  I lived in New Jersey for 18 years, and 1) we didn't have a lieutenant governor at all!  So when the incumbent was out of the state, a state senator was acting governor.  No-one noticed. 2) local government is in charge of cleaning up snow, and residents were always bitching about what an awful job they had done.

The man is allowed to take his kids to Disney World over the vacation, isn't he?  Or perhaps he should have taken the little tots to the Jersey shore?

I'm sure Christie can be criticized for many things, but this is a pretext.  He's a governor, for God's sake.

It's not generally known...

but there are three former slaves in New Jersey.

After 160 years of stubborn denial, New Jersey is just now getting around to admitting that slavery was wrong and has officially apologized for it. This is fantastic news for former slaves who have been sitting around all this time patiently waiting for some sort of mea culpa. However, there is still no word from any former slaves as to whether the apology will be accepted. In fact, they have remained strangely silent for decades.

They keep a low profile. Heck, they have to, as they had to have been born before 1865 and so are pretty darn old.

Old Fred lives in a humble mud shack in Lawrenceville, and likes to play bingo. His favorite television show is American Idol.

Grandma Myrtle lives with her great-great-great grandchildren in a housing project in Newark. She doesn't get out much. Due to the constant gunfire in the neighborhood, she has lost her hearing, but still likes to water her potted plants.
Bad Bart is serving three life sentences plus 99 years in Ramapo State Prison. No-one can remember what he was sentenced for.

The three held a joint press conference, fervently thanking the legislators. Old Fred, as spokesperson, is quoted as saying, "I never thought I would live to see the day."

You call those property taxes?

Paul Smith thinks his property taxes in New Castle County are too high.

From my perspective, New Castle County taxes are downright amusing, amounting to just a bit more than the tip I give the mailman each Christmas.

You need to live, or have lived, in New Jersey, to appreciate property taxes. Now we lived in a perfectly adequate house in Passaic County. You might even call it a nice house, although it needed new windows and a furnace. It was not a spectacular house, or an extremely nice house, just a house.

For the privilege of living in said house, we paid more than $9,000 in property taxes. This was okay while I was working, but when I retired I earned about half of what I had formerly been paid. It appeared that I would have to get another full-time job and maybe some part-time work to continue to live in this perfectly adequate house, which would shortly need new windows and a new furnace. (The roof was pretty old too.)

So I figured out that if we moved to Delaware we would save enough to pay for me and Mr Charm to go to Europe every year on a nice tour. I thought Sicily would be nice, for a start.

We moved, and I'm glad. At least the bills and the income match each month. In other words, I don't run out of money before I run out of month, most of the time.

As for Sicily, I haven't been there yet. But I have hopes.

Welcome, Dr Sanity readers!

New Jersey politicians and bribes...

Perfect together.

Ethics, New Jersey style

Jim McGreevey instructs New Jersey youth.

James E. McGreevey, who resigned the governorship under a cloud of scandal, has a new job teaching law, ethics and leadership at one of New Jersey's public colleges.

McGreevey is now an "executive in residence" -- a combination teaching and consulting post -- at Kean University in Union, where he is earning $17,500. The former governor came on board without any announcement on Nov. 1, Kean officials said, and the university makes no mention of his role on its Web site or faculty directory.

Suggested next course: Criminals teaching ethics to police.

Ht to New Jersey guy.