Philadelphia, 240 Years Later

On the occasion of Independence Day ("Fourth of July" is a calendar date while "Independence Day" is the name of the occasion; even the British have a Fourth of July) my wife and I got together with some other U.S. expatriates in my town last evening.  Not like the Independene Days of the past.  We all sensed that there was a damper on things, caused by the policies of the Obama presidency.  And while it would not be fair to say that everyone at the gathering is a Trump supporter (few of us were unabashed in backing him), it would be an accurate statement to say that none of the attendees at the gathering expect a Hillary Clinton presidency to fix things significantly.  It all boils down to a "who would be the least worst" thing.

Anyway, the discussion got to the Democratic convention coming up in Philadelphia, a city with which I have more than a little amount of familiarity.  (My mom had an aunt there, and I still have cousins who live in the city and its suburbs. Business from my Long Island law practice took me there on a number of occasions.  A former business partner of mine is now there, too.  And my wife did her undergraduate studies in Philadelphia.).

The question now is whether there will be unrest of the type seen at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.  I believe that there may well be.  Disorder has already been threatened, whether puerile or serious (i.e., the not-so-veiled threats of violence from the Sanders crowd that already was unruly in Nevada)

There will be demonstrations.  The question now remaining is how violent they will be allowed to become.

P.S.  The transit system in Philadelphia is now impaired for the summer with the removal of a significant portion of the railcar fleet on account of technical problems.

New Levy on Account of Levy?

This Blog has had prior occasion to mention Steve Levy, the County Executive of Suffolk County, NY. Steve is once again in the news; specifically, his political career is now on indefinite hold after it came to light that, notwithstanding Steve's public pronouncements of the need to reform the campaign finance laws, his own campaign contributors have included many contractors working on Suffolk County public projects.

This posting will leave to other pundits the issues of the extent of Steve's questionable doings, (2) the terms, if any, of any deal that may have been made with the Suffolk County District Attorney regarding Steve's nonprosecution, (3) the effect of the current Steve Levy scandal on New York politics in general, and (4) speculations regarding Steve's short-term or long-term political future.

What this posting will note is the reactions of two Suffolk County Legislators to the Steve Levy scandal.

Legislator Jay Schneiderman (a political Independent) announced that he wishes to reanimate his proposed legislation to ban "pay to play" political contributions. Schneiderman's bill would impose fines and/or jail time for the tendering of contributions by County contractors and the acceptance of same by officials and candidates.

Legislator Jon Cooper, who co-sponsored Schneiderman's legislation in the past and is doing so again this time around, would go even further. Cooper wants to create a commission to oversee campaign finance in Suffolk County.

In an already overtaxed county, Cooper (a Democrat) seeks to add another governmental agency! This, in my view, is a cure worse than the disease.

Cooper's proposed solution is just so Democrat and Obama! Government bureaucracies cost taxpayer money! While some bureaucracies are needed, the excessive proliferation of bureaucracies is an engine of tyranny, and a menace to our personal freedoms.

What should be done is to add to Schneiderman's bill a provision to provide for the compensation of whistleblowers, or, perhaps, a False Claims Act type provision allowing private parties to initiate lawsuits against contractors and/or politicians who violate the law. This approach could use the existing bureaucratic infrastructure, and not create any new tax-guzzling bureaucratic apparatus.