Monday, November 22, 2010

Leaving the Mess Behind

What a legacy Mayor Duffy leaves.

A new crime rate study ranks Rochester as one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

A failing school system.

Killing the most promising City improvement in years, Renaissance Square, rather than having to share credit for it.   No matter how it might have improved the City or the quality of life for many of its residents.

Those are the kind of results you get in a non-competitive political environment.   Remember them in the weeks ahead, as the local press that has protected this Mayor for so long, laments the "loss" of his departure and praises the Golden Age of his leadership.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are two area politicians whose public images are very different from their private, real personalities: Louise Slaughter and Bob Duffy. Both ruthlessly ambitious, back stabbing, willing to say anything to anybody to promote their agenda. Both have left many political bodies in their wake. Neither have left much else as a legacy. Neither will be long remembered once gone from the scene.

Andreas Rau said...

Ahhh, but in the long run, does it matter? They have done exactly what it takes to succeed in politics; accomplishing anything positive is never a criteria for judging political success. They have sold an image the voters bought hook, line and sinker. Truth and/or reality counts for nothing there.
People don't really want to hear the truth, anyway. They adore their city crime rates, their ghettoes, the highest amount of child poverty in New York, the worst school system in the state and a collapsing economy. That's why they buy into the lies of a rosy future just waiting around the corner IF we keep putting such creatures back into office, or raising them to higher levels. People really like things the way they are, no matter what they grumble about.
Like all riverboat gamblers, the mayor who now is and Madam Louise know this and have traded on it and won.
Frankly, the voters are incredibly stupid to have kept buying their malarky, but that's politics for you.
It's really kind of hard to blame the con artists when their pigeons are only too willing to be taken to the cleaners.
And those who object are either planning to leave New York State, or are rich enough to stay and not become unduly upset. Or, they plan to go into politics themselves to do the same thing, or at least become camp followers and attach themselves to the politicans' gravy trains.
And this is all with the voters' blessings!
In conclusion, we shouldn't blame crooked politicians for doing what comes natural to them when suckers are being born every minute!