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Op-Ed:
The Member Item Dilemma
Political bacon sometimes only as good as the last serving
By Alan Chartock

Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Republican chieftain Joe Bruno have complied with the New York State court order and are telling the public who got what member items. Member items, you will recall, are those goodies that each legislator gets to give out to his or her constituents.

If you are a member of one of the two majorities (Democratic Assembly and Republican Senate), you get more than a member of the minority. If you are in the minority party, unless you are receiving an incentive (or bribe) not to run against someone in the other party, you get less. It can get quite complicated.

In the bad old days, the public never got to know who had ordered up the goodies. Then the Albany Times Union sued the legislature and won. Now the legislature is forced to disclose who got what. That the information delivered was so inaccessible tells you that the leaders are still playing games. One can only wonder what’s buried among these goodies that they don’t want you to know about.

Take Sheldon Silver, a man I have always respected. Based on what I have read, he should be, well, kvelling all over the place for delivering tons of stuff to his downtown Manhattan district. Among the goodies is a whopping grant of $269,000 to The Educational Alliance, a very worthy organization that helps take care of a lot of poor and underserved children. The grant is to “offset operational costs,” meaning the legislature is paying the bills for this not-for-profit group.

Another worthy recipient is something called the Chinese American Planning Council for a work force development program. Chinatown is right there in Shelly’s district. Can’t argue with that one either. $200,000 went to the Metropolitan Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty for health and social services to the elderly. The United Jewish Council of the East Side received $194,000, again to offset operation costs, and a like amount to the same group for a senior discount program card program and for what is described as “recreational and educational programs for seniors and others.” Combined, that’s a whopping $388,000 going to the group.

This is one pretty good example of a dysfunctional government that is supposed to be operating in a broader democracy. Another is the gerrymander, in which the leaders get to draw the districts so that their side has an advantage and they get more to bring home than the people on the other side of the aisle. The assumption is that if you bring home the bacon (or pork) you can’t lose. But this doesn’t always turn out to be true.

Let’s say a leader puts a roof on a religious institution. There will always be resentment. One guy might say, “Hey, we had to pay for the roof on my church.” Another could look at her high taxes and claim, “Hey, those are my tax dollars that the leaders are using to help themselves.”

Back in the day, there was this powerful Democratic Speaker named Stanley Steingut, who came from Brooklyn. He put everything but the kitchen sink back into that district, but they still turned him out. He was beaten by a young woman reformer. So much for gratitude.

On the other hand, it has often been said (by me) that if you put one more thing into Sen. Joe Bruno’s district up in Troy, the place will sink. The people in Bruno’s district seem to appreciate his largesse. Maybe like chicken soup and the common cold, getting stuff for people can’t hurt your prospects.

Alan Chartock is the president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and the executive publisher and project director of The Legislative Gazette