It's a great deal if you can swing it, really. You give away thousands of public funds and then a good portion of those funds come right back to you as campaign donations. Though it's nowhere near as uncommon a practice as it should be, it's exactly what GOP incumbent Jim Alesi is doing -- essentially laundering public funds through a third party and then using them for his campaign. At the very best, it's a gross conflict of interest. Don't think the Nachbar campaign hasn't noticed.
David Nachbar, the former Bausch and Lomb executive challenging Jim Alesi, Republican incumbent state Senator (SD-55), issued a statement today charging that Alesi has taken money from a group that he regularly procures State money for.
Information released today by the Nachbar campaign shows that money moved from taxpayers to New York State coffers, from the state to the Rochester International Jazz Festival in the form of grants secured by Alesi, and then from the Festival to Alesi in the form of campaign donations.
Grants "to support/promote the Jazz Festival"
$145,000 in 2008-2009 Budget
$100,000 in 2007-2008 Budget
Donations from Jazz Festival to Alesi Campaign
$15,320 in contributions since 2004
"At best this is inappropriate," Nachbar said, "and Senator Alesi should know better. It's also only the tip of the iceberg. It makes plain, or more plain than usual, how 'member items' are a vital part of what Albany does best: get reelected."
"There is always a major benefit to the legislator with pork-barrel money, as Senator Alesi knows well: name recognition. As the result of these handouts of taxpayer money, his name is everywhere: programs, websites, news broadcasts, even on buildings. In this case, it looks like he actually got some cash back directly."
But, wait a second, you say. Isn't the Rochester International Jazz Festival, now officially the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, some sort of non-profit org? No, dear reader, it is not. It is an LLC with big, fat corporate sponsors like Xerox and M&T Bank. That makes this story all the more troubling. An event with that kind of sponsorship probably doesn't need pubic money to begin with, especially since we don't have all that much money to spreading around anyway. It's not like the festival, awesome as it may indeed be, is going to educate a single child, help heat anyone's home this winter or lower a single family's property taxes.
The good news for Alesi is that they obviously didn't need all the money he's sent their way because they were able to turn right around give a nice little chunk of it back. The money didn't go back into state coffers of course, it went into Jim Alesi's campaign fund. I'm sure would thank you personally if he could.
Crap like this has been a cog in the incumbency protection racket for far too long.
Had enough?
On the web: David Nachbar for State Senate.
|
