Perks for Public Officials -- Transparency and Accountability

Perks that public officials give themselves should be monitored as carefully as gifts, campaign contributions, and relationships with contractors. But they are not. And they’re usually easy to hide.

Rarely have perks been hidden as well as those of New York’s Republican state senators, who until this year controlled the senate for over four decades, according to an article in yesterday’s New York Times.

Not only did the Democratic senators not realize the extent of the Republican perks, but even some Republican senators say they didn’t know. A printing plant that gave Republicans four colors and Democrats two is only the most petty, yet one of the more expensive, of the perks. Democrats didn’t even know the senate had its own printing plant!

There’s no need to list the perks. What matters is that those with senatorial power spent taxpayer money to help themselves to things that gave them more power. The public interest in fairness, transparency, competitive parties, etc. was not part of their calculations.

The Republicans’ defense: the prerogative of the majority party. And I thought that the prerogative of the majority party was to be able to put into the budget and into law what the majority of voters desired. How naive of me!

Not only is it a conflict of interest to give oneself such prerogatives, but since they have to be hidden, it creates a dark world that no one can see, without transparency, without accountability, without responsible budgeting. The Democrats can’t even determine how many people are on the senate payroll.

New York Democrats are cutting back, as they must considering the fiscal pressures, but this is not a solution. When things get better, the money will flow again in Albany’s underground streams, as it has in streams underneath cities and counties across the nation.

If the public does not know about a perk, does not know exactly what its cost is, then it should not be paid for with public dollars. The party at fault, if it knew about the expenditures, should pay for them. And the officials who knowingly made use of the perks should pay for them out of their pockets. Restitution is the only solution in such a case.