The New York Yankees, as he is now facing charges of violating ethics laws because he was given free tickets to the first game of the World Series last year.
Aw, come on.
I mean, I get it. I get that such laws are in place to discourage lobbyists from having access and sway over public officials. And it was a dumb ášš move on his part that, when buttonholed about it subsequently, he tried to cover himself by saying he was going to pay for it and then using a backdated check to try and make it convincing. I get all that.
But come on. Being the governor of New York is a thankless job on the best of days. Certainly you should get SOME perks. He didn’t get free tickets so he could take some prostitutes. He got free tickets so he could take his son and a friend. Big dámņëd deal. Instead of trying to cover his tracks, he should have said, “Yeah. They gave me tickets. I’m the governor of New York, it’s the New York Yankees, and they wanted me there. Next question.”
He’s already said he’s not running next election. Leave the guy alone to do what governing he can.
PAD
• 
According to a quick, probably-not-up-to-date check from online sources, the governor of New York makes about $179,000 per year. The governor of my home state, Minnesota make about $120,000 and he seems happy enough.
Speaking as someone who is currently unemployed, I might think that was thanks enough.
I do think that Paterson has done a decent enough job as governor, but this is not his first county fair. He should have known better, and I think it trivializes the importance of ethics in politics to make excuses for him.
I’m not trivializing the importance of ethics in politics. I’m expressing annoyance when I believe that ethics in politics are being trivialized.
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PAD
Peter David: Being the governor of New York is a thankless job on the best of days. Certainly you should get SOME perks.
Luigi Novi: If we do away with a no-perk system, what system or set of criteria would you suggest we replace it with that would be able to decide which perks are acceptable and which ones are not?
Things that aren’t going to harm the taxpayers? Things that don’t come at the taxpayers expense? Or maybe just plain old common sense?
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PAD
Whose common sense would that be? What about the common sense that says you don’t only follow the rules you like? If you believe a rule should be changed, great. Go through the channels – don’t do whatever you want and then play the victim when you get caught.
It’s not possible to enact a law using “harming taxpayers” or “common sense” as criteria, since those things are subjective, and impossible for a bureaucracy to quantify.
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Taxpayer expense is a good one, but then that leaves politicians open to manipulation by lobbyists, as you yourself mentioned in your post.
“Things that don’t come at the taxpayers’ expense?”
Bribes from nations, companies or individuals would all fall within that definition. The Governor of New York gets plenty of perks: room and board, a nice office, $179,000 per year, other expenses, police protection, etc. Every politician, like every private citizen, is expected to obey the law, and subject to punishment if he does not.
I’m with you. There are certain perks which are part of the profession and certain which are illegal. I think it’s a gut test, but on the scale of bad stuff, that’s not pinging much. In my opinion, it was the equivalent of an author sending a celebrity a free book. The New York Yankees get a cute photo op, Patterson gets a nice day and a nice photo op, everyone goes home happy.
Meanwhile it’s taken years to get Charles Rangle to do the semi right thing and “temporarily” step down his chairmanship–over stuff of considerably more value than a few tickets.
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Patterson’s a pretty sad story. A lot of it was his own fault but some of it seems like the Democratic Party just wants him to go away so they can anoint a new leader. Tack on today’s claim that one New York rep is retiring over gay sexual harassment issues and it starts to remind me of the ethics scandals that helped get the republicans killed a few years back. (Though in this case the guys seem to be just quitting, which makes it easier for the party to save those seats).
“…the Democratic Party just wants him to go away so they can anoint a new leader.”
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Thank you, Bill O’Reilly.
Right. Because you’d have to be some kind of right wing nut to think Patterson is not the one the Democrats want at the top of the ticket. Good grief. Nice reality you got there.
If it’s substantiated that he pressured a woman to drop domestic violence allegations against his top aide, he shouldn’t resign; he should be arrested.
That’s a whole different kettle of fish. Frankly, it almost seems as if they felt they didn’t have a solid enough case in that regard, so they grabbed at anything they could in order to get him out. If they think they have a case about the domestic violence thing, then let them pursue that and prove it or come up short. But don’t start dragging in baseball tickets, fer cryin’ out loud.
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PAD
Yes, even here in California they covered the ‘alleged’ use of state cops to harass a witness. There seems to me to be a lot of accusation, but not much proof, but the media is eating it up!
“Frankly, it almost seems as if they felt they didn’t have a solid enough case in that regard, so they grabbed at anything they could in order to get him out.”
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As I understand, the commission that issued the report (NYS Commission On Public Integrity) is designed to be a non-partisan, independent oversight body. I think it’s probably more likely that the recent allegations against him prompted the commission to take a closer look at his activities, and they found this. I’d be surprised if it’s the last thing to come out, though.
Too bad it wasn’t Mets tickets.
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He could have taken their net value (negative) off his taxes.
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J.
But Patterson is a Mets Fan
do we think Guiliani paid for all those tickets in 2001 when he was at every yankee playoff game
Did Joe Biden pay for the olympic tickets for him and his family?
In New York we need someone who will get things done, and make the hard choices. Right now getting things done does not get you another term in office
sadly he is now a lame duck and will never be able to get the coming fiscal years budget passed
After watching the state of the union i have never been more upset with democracy, the president could have said i have the cure for cancer, we found out that cars can run on bannana peels and just because it came from the lips of a democrat not a single republican smile.
Gov Patterson– I’d like two tickets to…anywhere that isn’t NEW JERSEY! You know what you call an honest politician walking in New Jersey? LOST! Hey Peter, did you know that in New Jersey the seagulls all fly upside down?
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PAD- I was not aware of that, Governor.
Gov Patterson–Yes, it’s because there isn’t anything worth çráppìņg on! But seriously, this whole thing about the tickets…I thought they were those things you get at the thruway…I was trying to get out of NEW JERSEY! I should have known they weren’t from New Jersey though…on account of the LACK OF SMELL!. It’s a stinky place, you know, New Jersey.
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PAD- I think I got that, sir.
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Gov Patterson- I went to a Nets game. I thought it was a mime concert. On account of the lack of cheering. Nobody cheered, Peter. Did you know that their center is trying to decide between playing in Russia or New Jersey. The choice is between playing in a socially backwards, culturally depraved wasteland…and playing in RUSSIA. Did you know that Jayson Williams has agreed to a plea deal that would send him to prison for three years. Or the NETS for TWO.
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PAD– That’s…very good, sir.
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Gov Patterson– He’d rather spend an extra year in jail than in NEW JERSEY.
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PAD- Right. So….What do you plan on doing now that you’ve decided not to run for re-election.
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Gov Patterson- “Decided”. Good one! Like Tiger Woods “decided” not to accept endorsements. Well, I think I might become a judge for the Miss America pageant. Ask me why.
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PAD- Oh God…why?
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Gov Patterson- So that Miss NEW JERSEY has a chance! They’re all ugly there, Peter. The last Miss new jersey was so ugly even I could see it! When she went to a beach in New Jersey cats tried to bury her!
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PAD- Ok, that’s kind of cruel…
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Gov Patterson- I kid. She wouldn’t go to a beach in New jersey. She might step on a crack pipe or infected hospital waste.
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PAD- Ladies and gentlemen, the Governor of New York!
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Gov Patterson- Thank you! I’m here all week! Maybe…
Oh sure, first this disappears into the void, making me think that they’ve set up some clever way to flag posts that have names different than the norm, THEN, after i send it in again under my own name, undercutting the premise of the joke, both show up. Comedy is hard.
Guys: Y’know, I spelled the guy’s last name right, so there’s no excuse for all this “Patterson” stuff. Just sayin’…
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PAD
PAD,
“Frankly, it almost seems as if they felt they didn’t have a solid enough case in that regard, so they grabbed at anything they could in order to get him out.”
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Sorry, but I think you’re blowing the Yankees ticket thing way out of proportion to how much it is hurting Paterson versus the domestic-abuse case and his overall seeming ineptness and disinterest in his job.
I don’t know how other New York media outlets are playing it, but the New York Post has had probably over 20 pages of coverage on the Paterson and the domestic-abuse scandal (DAS from now on) and while I saw a mention of the Yankee ticket ticket deal on their website briefly, I did not find one line of it in their last three daily editions. Not one. They are solely focused on the DAS, and Paterson’s seemingly not interested in doing much of his duties at all even before, but especially since, the DAS broke.
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And, oh, it looks like they have quite the case, judging from the resignation of Harry Corbitt – his top cop. Basically, Paterson has been a dead man walking for a while now. This is a guy who was so paranoid about possible enemies that on his first day assuming office, talked about having affairs and using cocaine. Just when he was settling in,came the inept way he handled filling Hillary’s seat – from the rude treatment of caroline Kennedy to picking a lightweight like Kirsten Gillibrand.
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Then came word Obama didn’t want him to run.
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Just when it seemed he would survive all that and still attempt to run, came a devastating “New York Times” expose that showed Paterson seemingly enjoys the trappings of power but didn’t especially care for doing the work – he was notorious for arriving to work late, leaving early, blowing off meetings entirely or not merely asking his underlings for advice but asking them to make a decision FOR him..
THAT’S what has people and fellow legislators in a rush to show him the door. Then came the DAS. The Yankee ticket thing, if he were in a stronger position, would not be viewed as a big deal. But it feeds into the perception of someone who is only keeping his job FOR THE PERKS. It is the cherry on top for his opponents. Not the whole sundae.
“If they think they have a case about the domestic violence thing, then let them pursue that and prove it or come up short. But don’t start dragging in baseball tickets, fer cryin’ out loud.”
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But PAD, this is the culture we live in. Where workers who get perfectly legal bonuses are demonized by politicians and laws are even passed to retroactively revoke them, in the name of fairness.
Where athletes can generate millions of dollars for their schools, yet if a booster gives them a couple of the jerseys with their number on it that the university is selling thousands of to the general public, or if a booster gives the kis a couple tickets and arranges so his parents can come see him play, that is considered unethical and can get the kid suspended and the program on probation. Because, you know, there are no boosters to do that for the computer science students. Again, it’s in the name of fairness. And again, it’s insane.
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But in Paterson’s case it really is just a sliver in the bonanza of reasons why he will likely resign or be impeached.
I don’t know how other New York media outlets are playing it, but the New York Post has
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Just FYI, Jerome: I don’t generally read beyond those words in any comment, and this was no exception. The moment anyone brings up the New York Post as a news source in any context, I just roll my eyes and move on.
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PAD
Charlie E,
“Yes, even here in California they covered the ‘alleged’ use of state cops to harass a witness. There seems to me to be a lot of accusation, but not much proof, but the media is eating it up!”
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Well yeah, Charlie, they used the word “alleged” because, until there is a conviction, if they don’t use “alleged” – meaning he is presumed innocent – he can sue for slander. Even if he’s eventually found guilty, if they don’t use “alleged” the media could be acused of tainting the jury pool. It’s SOP. Doesn’t mean there’s more or less evidence.
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And there is a lot of proof. A lot of dominoes are falling and shoes are dropping. The guy is DONE! D-O-N-E, DONE!
This feels a little wrong and I’m wary of politicians taking gifts because they can turn into influence. However, I guess this is a “don’t sweat the small stuff” situation.
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If they’d given him season tickets, that would be a much more expensive gift and I think more people would have a problem with it. If a nice old lady had shown up at the Governor’s office and given him a plate of cookies, nobody would think that was worth bothering with.
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The problem is that the line between what is and isn’t acceptable isn’t perfectly clear. A dollar amount could be set (and I’m guessing there probably is one), but even that isn’t perfect. PAD makes a good point that it was a New York event. People kind of expect New York politicians to be at New York events to show their support if nothing else. So that tips the scales.
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This seems like it’s close enough to the borderline not to worry about it.
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It is bad press, though. It seems like there’s an unlimited amount of that for Paterson.
“It is bad press, though. It seems like there’s an unlimited amount of that for Paterson.”
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Much of it his own making. It’s a shame. I was actually pulling for him a bit. I didn’t like the perception that Obama was muscling him out and do you think I really want another Cuomo to waltz into Albany?
But Paterson has shown time and time again that he is very ill-prepared for the job and disinterested in the business of governing. he really needs to go and the sooner the better.
Gov Paterson– I’d like two tickets to…anywhere that isn’t NEW JERSEY! You know what you call an honest politician walking in New Jersey? LOST! Hey Peter, did you know that in New Jersey the seagulls all fly upside down?
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PAD- I was not aware of that, Governor.
Gov Paterson–Yes, it’s because there isn’t anything worth çráppìņg on! But seriously, this whole thing about the tickets…I thought they were those things you get at the thruway…I was trying to get out of NEW JERSEY! I should have known they weren’t from New Jersey though…on account of the LACK OF SMELL!. It’s a stinky place, you know, New Jersey.
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PAD- I think I got that, sir.
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Gov Paterson- I went to a Nets game. I thought it was a mime concert. On account of the lack of cheering. Nobody cheered, Peter. Did you know that their center is trying to decide between playing in Russia or New Jersey. The choice is between playing in a socially backwards, culturally depraved wasteland…and playing in RUSSIA. Did you know that Jayson Williams has agreed to a plea deal that would send him to prison for three years. Or the NETS for TWO.
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PAD– That’s…very good, sir.
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Gov Paterson– He’d rather spend an extra year in jail than in NEW JERSEY.
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PAD- Right. So….What do you plan on doing now that you’ve decided not to run for re-election.
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Gov Paterson- “Decided”. Good one! Like Tiger Woods “decided” not to accept endorsements. Well, I think I might become a judge for the Miss America pageant. Ask me why.
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PAD- Oh God…why?
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Gov Patterson- So that Miss NEW JERSEY has a chance! They’re all ugly there, Peter. The last Miss new jersey was so ugly even I could see it! When she went to a beach in New Jersey cats tried to bury her!
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PAD- Ok, that’s kind of cruel…
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Gov Paterson- I kid. She wouldn’t go to a beach in New jersey. She might step on a crack pipe or infected hospital waste.
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PAD- Ladies and gentlemen, the Governor of New York!
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Gov Paterson- Thank you! I’m here all week! Maybe…
Watch SNL much, do ya, Bill?
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PAD
Oh yeah. It’s been the best thing about the Paterson tenure. I hope they don’t retire the character. The blind stuff was only mildly amusing but the jersey jokes–and even better, the deliberately bad delivery of them–pure gold.
I wonder if Weekend Update is going to have “Paterson” on to talk about this latest thing. I can just see it:
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“So I had Yankees tickets! Big deal! it’s not like I could SEE the game! It was just like listening to it on radio except I had to pay seven bucks for a beer that tasted like water from New Jersey!”
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PAD
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At the risk of starting a joke thread…
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“… but the jersey jokes–and even better… “
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From the PHC Joke Show:
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Why are New Yorkers so depressed? They know that the light at the end of the tunnel is just New Jersey.
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Did you hear about the hurricane that hit New Jersey and did 5.2 billion dollars of improvements?
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I’ll go away now.
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😉
I think we should get the S.O.B. for jaywalking too! AND littering – he must have missed his waste basket at least once or twice when throwing something at it! And public obscenity! And while we’re at it… mail fraud.
I am AMAZED that the citizens of New York are not outraged that this is where the penetrating analysis of their government is focused… unless they have everything in NY one hëll of a lot better than in Ohio. Or California. Or Louisiana. Or most states of the Union. It’s just crazy.
I remain,
Sincerely,
Eric L. Sofer
x<]:o){
The Bad Clown…
You might have a point. This is sort of penny ante. But it follows everything else we have seen from a man who is clearly in over his head and whose ethics are questionable. If not less questionable than those of far too many party hacks in Albany.
I think that there is good reason under normal circumstances for Paterson to resign. He cannot govern and has no legitimacy. But were he to quit, we would see even more chaos as his disputed lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch, takes the job with even less legitimacy. And while I think Ravitch would do a good job as a caretaker, no one will let him do that. (Any chance New Jersey’s Richard Codey, the state’s three-time acting governor, is available?)
The underlying problem is really that Albany is broken. Nothing has worked there in ages, perhaps since the early days of Mario Cuomo. The dysfunctionality of the current and previous governors, their scandals aside, reflects a model of confrontation, territoriality and back room deals that makes what we are seeing from Capitol Hill seem mild. We need more than a new governor there. We need a total revamp of the system, perhaps even a state constitutional convention.
The underlying problem is really that Albany is broken. Nothing has worked there in ages, perhaps since the early days of Mario Cuomo.
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Well, if we can believe the musical “1776” it goes back way longer than that. Every time a vote is taken in the Continental Congress, the delegation from New York abstains (courteously). An exasperated Hancock finally demands of the lead delegate, Lewis Morris, “What in hëll goes on in New York!” An abashed Morris explains that the NY legislature has never sent its delegation definitive instructions on how to vote on anything. Hancock says, “That’s impossible.” And Morris says:
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“Have you ever BEEN to a meeting of the New York legislature? They talk very loud and very fast, and no one listens to anything that anyone else says. And as a result, nothing ever gets done.”
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PAD
“They talk very loud and very fast, and no one listens to anything that anyone else says.”
That part actually comes from a letter that John Adams sent home to Abby about passing through N.Y. on his way to Philadelphia. I don’t remember the real quote being specifically about their legislature, but given that they did take until mid-August 1776 to finally give the OK on independence to their delegates, I’d say it probably applied to their government just as well as whatever inspired Adams.
Peter, I tend to agree with you about the tickets situation, although I am somewhat less than comfortable with the lengths that Paterson went to cover it up. But it is his reported intercession with the domestic abuse case involving his aide that I find much more troubling. Frankly, if you’re gov of NY, the office should probably come with season tickets to all NY sports teams, but using one’s office to cover up a possible crime of abuse is crossing the line in my book.
Well, as I said on a subsequent post, I’m in agreement on the domestic abuse case. And in the original post I said this attempts to cover up the payment for the tickets was a dumb ášš thing to do. So we’re pretty much on the same page here, Joe.
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PAD
…except that you think Governor Paterson should avoid retribution for this offense. That’s a fairly large difference.
C’mon, it’s a Yankees game. It’s not like it’s a REAL baseball team.
(Waiting for reply from Keith DeCandido in 5… 4…)
Kat,
“Whose common sense would that be? What about the common sense that says you don’t only follow the rules you like? If you believe a rule should be changed, great. Go through the channels – don’t do whatever you want and then play the victim when you get caught.”
Exactly. Not only did Paterson illegally snare the tickets, he is charged with “swearing falsely” about it under oath. That is what is known as a felony – and it’s the third current criminal probe of the current governor of New York.
And it was not just a baseball game, it was the World Series and the total cost was $6,000 – which may be chump change if you’re the governor of New York or a best-selling author – but that’s a lot of money for most people.
And again, this is just the cherry on top regarding a man who has been exposed at someone who enjoys the trappings of power but wants to do absolutely none of the work.
A perfect example is Monday,
After a brief event at 8:30 AM with business leaders, took off in a state helicopter to Albany at 10 AM, arrived at the Executive Mansion at 10:35 AM and spoke to NO ONE all day before leaving.
Lawmakers were extremely upset because they had expected a full day of serious negotiations about how to close a $9 billion deficit for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch conceded he had not spoken to the governor all day. It was revealed paterson also failed to call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver or Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, both of whom he needs to get a budget done.
Earlier in the day, he sounded Nixonian in his paranoia.
As the week has progressed, chances have increased that Paterson can face criminal charges in regard to all three scandals.
Why would anyone want to defend this man?
And it was not just a baseball game, it was the World Series and the total cost was $6,000 –
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Oh, for the love of Christ, Jerome, did you get that from the Post as well? It was four tickets at $425 apiece. It was the New York Yankees, it was the first game of the World Series, and he SHOULD have been there because it’s THE NEW YORK Yankees. And that’s what he should have said in the first place.
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Why would anyone want to defend this man?
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I’m not defending him as much as I’m attacking the people who are bìŧçhìņg about him getting Yankees tickets. I’m saying that piling on about Yankees tickets is bûllšhìŧ. I’m saying that elected officials–mayors, governors, presidents–have shown up at major or landmark sporting events for decades, and never once has anyone started subjecting how they got their seats to any sort of scrutiny. The fact that now, amazingly, magically, it becomes a subject of contention stinks. This isn’t about ethics; it’s about trying to find any charge, no matter how trivial, to throw at him. Paterson didn’t waste taxpayer money on the tickets, but it’s sure as hëll being wasted in investigation of this bûllšhìŧ charge.
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PAD
PAD, I think it ceased to be a bûllšhìŧ charge when he lied about it. Even if he was totally in the right about the tickets, lying makes him seem like a crook and, if fact, is illegal, so it MAKES you a crook. Why this lesson has to be relearned by our ruling class every few…months, it seems…is beyond me.
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That said, it does seem really odd, at least to some one far enough away from New York that I’m not getting “ticketgate” info 24/7, that a big deal was made about the tickets at all–I would like to know how it is that, as you say, elected officials have been going to these games forever without ethics charges being filed. What did they do that Patterson didn’t?
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I wanted Paterson to succeed if only because it made such a compelling story–a man overcomes obstacles to become, under the craziest circumstances, governor of one of our greatest states and manages to lead and inspire others to help said state escape its many problems…didn’t work out that way.
PAD, I think it ceased to be a bûllšhìŧ charge when he lied about it. Even if he was totally in the right about the tickets, lying makes him seem like a crook and, if fact, is illegal, so it MAKES you a crook. Why this lesson has to be relearned by our ruling class every few…months, it seems…is beyond me.
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Because the fundamental philosophy as espoused by Doctor Gregory House is correct: Everybody lies. They lie to others. They lie to themselves. Again, I make no bones about it: It was dumb for Paterson to try and cover himself. But I firmly believe he should not have been put into that position, because as I pointed out above, high powered politicians have been getting ringside seats for sporting events for decades and never been challenged on it…until now. Suddenly, out of the blue, this particular guy gets challenged on it, and I’m inclined to think that it has less to do with the issue and more to do with a determination to get him out of office in any way possible. That’s what I’m calling bûllšhìŧ on.
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PAD
Bill Mulligan said:
“PAD, I think it ceased to be a bûllšhìŧ charge when
he lied about it. Even if he was totally in the
right about the tickets, lying makes him seem like
a crook and, if fact, is illegal, so it MAKES you a
crook.
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Actually, lying about it makes him a liar. The “Crook” label, (at least to me), means “thief” or “swindler.” Which is a matter (slightly) more debateable. I suppose by some literal definition “crook” is fits as a general term for “dishonest,” but it’s not what leaps to my mind.
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Other than that, though, I agree with most of what you said.
Well, by crook I meant “having done something illegal”, which, if it’s true he lied to the proper authorities about this incident, would be the case. Lying under oath carries a lot more penalty than telling your girlfriend that her favorite dress does not make her look fat.
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Not mention backdating a check or having someone else backdate a check to provide an alibi.
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And as I’ve said, I’m not fully up to speed on this but isn’t part of the complaint that he sought tickets not for himself (which I agree with PAD about, that should be a given for the freaking governor of the state) but for friends and family?
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Anyway, at this point he looks like toast. Politicians on both sides of the aisle will try to deflect their own responsibility for New York’s fiscal mess by making him seem like the source of all political malfeasance. Hard to see how he guts this out.
*Bill Mulligan says:
*Well, by crook I meant “having done something illegal,
*which, if it’s true he lied to the proper authorities
*about this incident, would be the case. Lying under
*oath carries a lot more penalty than telling your
*girlfriend that her favorite dress does not make her
*look fat.
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Fair enough. I was zeroing in on your “lying makes him seem like a crook and, if fact, is illegal, so it MAKES you a crook” comment and zoning out on the rest of it. My tunnel vision often gets me in trouble. I must also admit that my only knowledge of this case comes from this blog here and I have not done any othe independent research on the matter. But I do agree with you inyour comments regarding perjury and the like.
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Politicians must tread very carefully. Everyone treats them like snakes. No matter whether the walk on the left or the right side of the road, there is a whole stream of traffic on the other side just watching him and waiting for him to step out in their lane of traffic so they can roll right over them.
Bill Mulligan: PAD, I think it ceased to be a bûllšhìŧ charge when he lied about it. Even if he was totally in the right about the tickets, lying makes him seem like a crook…
Luigi Novi: LOL. Sorry, but reading that caused me to flash back to Steven Wright’s routine:
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“I was resisted for resisting arrest.” (Laughter)
“The cop pulled me over and said, ‘You’re under arrest.'”
I said, “No, I’m not.”
He said, “Okay, NOW you really are!”
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Bill Mulligan: and, if fact, is illegal, so it MAKES you a crook.
Luigi Novi: Was he under oath when he said this?
PAD,
“Oh, for the love of Christ, Jerome, did you get that from the Post as well? It was four tickets at $425 apiece.”
No. It was five tickets. And though the face value says $425, this being the World Series, almost no one paid face-value for them. The Public Integrity Commission found that, in a review of scalping sites, the tickets were worth an average of $1,200 each. times that by five and we get the $6,000 number the PEC is going by.
And, just so people know, the reason “this guy” is being singled out when Giuliani and others weren’t is because stiffer bans and penalties on public officials receiving gifts were enacted as recently as 2007 by then-Governor Eliot Spitzer.
That’s why.
If that’s the case then you have a compelling point. I don’t know if using the scalping value of the ticket is the best way to do it…then again, if I was a politician and managed to convince someone to give me a copy of Action #1 I don’t think I’d get away with claiming it was only worth the 10 cent price tag.
And if that happens, then we address it at that point. But it hasn’t happened. Instead what happened was that the governor of New York was given free tickets to root for the home team at the World Series. It’s not the same thing.
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PAD
CNN reported four tickets, and if the PIC is holding Paterson responsible for the overinflated prices being asked for tickets, then this has gone insanely off the rails. Paterson kept four or five tickets out of the hands of the douche bags who make insane profits jacking up ticket prices? I’ve got no problem with that. As for Eliot “Mr. Ethics” Spitzer, he legalized ticket scalping and frequented prostitutes.
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And it remains bûllšhìŧ.
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PAD
Look, all things being equal I’d rather this was not a major issue–Paterson has enough problems and his possible involvement with the domestic violence dispute is a more serious matter (though, if I understand this correctly, he is being attacked merely for calling the alleged victim of the alleged abuse, allegedly. I haven’t heard anyone yet say that he put the screws on the poor girl to recant her allegations or threatened her, merely that by simply calling her he was abusing his authority. And I’m not sure that’s a valid argument.)
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But there is a difference between “the governor of New York was given free tickets to root for the home team” and “the governor solicited free tickets for family and friends”, which is the allegations. I could accept that he was unaware that he was breaking the law but Paterson himself claims that he KNEW the tickets would have been illegal as gifts, which is why he intended to pay for them. Nobody involved with this is making the argument that taking the tickets gratis would have been legal. So it comes down to whether or not you believe that his statements under oath are true and whether he had people fabricate evidence for him.
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Yes, it’s a ridiculous thing to lose a governorship over but so was breaking into a hotel to get info on a campaign that would lose by the widest margin in US presidential history…but there you go. People are willing to risk it all on pretty inconsequential things.
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If the laws are too draconian, vote for people who will change them, though I don’t think the “Let’s give our elected officials a break on freebies” is going to have much resonance this cycle.
I wasn’t really using the Action comics scenario as a comparison to Paterson getting Yankees tickets–there is no way one could justify an obvious bribe like that–but as an example of how it might be valid to use other than the face value of a gift.
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I still think it is possible that Paterson got into this fix innocently and then panicked and made it worse with an attempted cover-up. Bad judgment more than deliberate malice. I’d still rather have someone like him than a complete scuzzball like Spitzer (but then again I am not in New York so I don’t know how competently he has run other things. from my perspective, the knives came out early for Paterson.)
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btw, CNN now seems to support Jerome (and The New York Post, I guess) on the number of tickets–they say that David Johnson, the guy involved in the domestic abuse problem, “was among the four guests who attended the October 28 game with Paterson”
This was very petty, for reasons too numerous to cite.
If you’re going to indict someone, if this is the best you’ve got, you’ve basically got nothing.
Bill,
“If that’s the case then you have a compelling point. I don’t know if using the scalping value of the ticket is the best way to do it…then again, if I was a politician and managed to convince someone to give me a copy of Action #1 I don’t think I’d get away with claiming it was only worth the 10 cent price tag.”
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Ha. That was exactly the example I was going to use. The rules have become extremely tight to the point it has become harder not to break them. But the law is the law.
And really, though it may seem to be “only a Yankee game”, when you’re talking about an entity that just built a $1 billion stadium and constantly – like many teams but even moreso because they’re the Yankees – has issues that are reviewed regarding starting times for games, fairness of their cable station rates, accessibility of fans who want to listen on radio, use of their logo, prices of parking, concessions, etc.; possible stadium modifications using state money and…prices of their tickets for the average fan, well, the idea that they may have some influence on the Governor is not a minor thing.
“Luigi Novi: Was he under oath when he said this?”
Yes, which is a huge part of the problem.
Bill Mulligan,
“I still think it is possible that Paterson got into this fix innocently and then panicked and made it worse with an attempted cover-up. Bad judgment more than deliberate malice. I’d still rather have someone like him than a complete scuzzball like Spitzer (but then again I am not in New York so I don’t know how competently he has run other things. from my perspective, the knives came out early for Paterson.)”
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I actually kind of agree with you on the domestic violence charge. But it is the byproduct of a system that is out to “get” men. In these types of cases, you are innocent until proven guilty and can have charges pressed even if the victim doesn’t want them to be. But again, the law is the law is the law. And even moreso in politics, where even the mere appearance of impropriety is lethal. A seasoned or even competent candidate would have known better.
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Which is really the whole problem. The guy seemingly doesn’t know better – and after reading two and sometimes even three of the major New York papers daily, it is clear that he has brought this on himself.
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Whatever goodwill he inherited by being a fresh start after replacing Spitzer – and being blind and black – quickly vanished or was severely blunted when he immediately let everyone know he had been unfaithful to his wife and had done cocaine. Sources close to him say this was a classic case of his very paranoid personality, that he decided to spill thebeans and get such negative press early because in a very Nixonian manner, he was convinced his enemies were “out to get him” and would eventually reveal the information anyway.
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Fact is, he has been in freefall ever since the Caroline Kennedy fiasco. The length of time it took him to appoint someone was bad, picking the little-known Gillibrand was worse (if he was astute, he would have picked Cuomo and got a load of positive press and eliminated a rival for governor) and leaking info about Kennedy was just ugly and stupid.
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Most of the remaining goodwill vanished when he actually seemed to be presenting a tough budget – and then was seen living the high life the entire week after he announced the sacrifice everyone else was going to have to make. Legal, but reeeally politically stupid.
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Then came Obama pressuring him not to run. Average people knew something was up if that was going on.
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Then, the New York Times did an expose depicting a guy who arrives to work late, leaves early and is disinterested in actual governing, but very interested in the trappings of the office.
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Then cam a controversial aqueduct deal, the domestic abuse case and now accusations of improper gifts – which leads us to where we are today.
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And the sad part is he might have weathered accusations of incompetence if it wasn’t becoming glaringly obvious that he is a terrible, terrible liar.
But again, the law is the law is the law. And even moreso in politics, where even the mere appearance of impropriety is lethal.
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What really bugs me–and Paterson is hardly the most egregious example–is that the very people who WRITE the laws are the ones who suddenly feel entitled to play the “well, sure I perjured myself but the law is ridiculous and I shouldn’t have been put in that position and hey, hey wouldn’t lie under oath!”
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Yeah, but let one of us try that and it’s fines and jail time. How come the regular folks I know who didn’t pay taxes were threatened with jail and ruinous fines but the politicians who do that seem to get by just by paying them a few years late?
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Forget the Tea Party. Where’s the Tar and Feather and Ride Them Out of Town on a Rail Party?
Bill Mulligan,
“What really bugs me–and Paterson is hardly the most egregious example–is that the very people who WRITE the laws are the ones who suddenly feel entitled to play the “well, sure I perjured myself but the law is ridiculous and I shouldn’t have been put in that position and hey, hey wouldn’t lie under oath!””
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I agree. Spitzer, for example, might even have survived his fondness for prostitutes if he hadn’t built his career on things like, oh, cracking down on prostitutes!
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And more than that, it’s the supporters who make excuses who really bug me. The Bill Clinton supporters who are robotic in their defense that it was “just about sex” despite it being, you know, a part of a sexual harassment case, I have yet to hear one of them saying it was ridiculous for Clarence Thomas’s nomination to the Supreme Court was almost derailed because of alleged comments about pubic hairs on a Coke can. I mean, seriously! t’s like all their beloved nuance goes out the window when they are determined to defend somebody they like and destroy somebody they hate. I can’t name one liberal who has apologized to Thomas, either to his face or even in print.
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“Yeah, but let one of us try that and it’s fines and jail time. How come the regular folks I know who didn’t pay taxes were threatened with jail and ruinous fines but the politicians who do that seem to get by just by paying them a few years late?”
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Exactly. I’d love to advise President Obama. Unfortunately, I’m not qualified. Or so I was told. Something to do with actually paying my taxes.
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“Forget the Tea Party. Where’s the Tar and Feather and Ride Them Out of Town on a Rail Party?”
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Yeesh, Bill! You sound angrier than Beck here. More in Savage territory! Calm down.
I just had a fire in my stove from ribs exploding the “oven safe bag” and you want me to CALM DOWN?????
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Also, it was supposed to be “and hey, who wouldn’t lie under oath!” not “and hey, hey wouldn’t lie under oath!” Hey, hey we’re the monkeys…
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Now back to dinner. Plan B…