“Community Columnist” Michael Schrader

(About cronyism)

Written 27 October 2016

There is a major FBI sting operation underway to combat corruption in southeastern Michigan. Thus far, three local elected officials in Macomb County have been caught, and there may be more. The crimes include influence-peddling, bid-rigging, bribes, and extortion. One elected official used his position to influence other elected officials to select his company to provide services to the township. Another was “shaking down” businesses that did business with the township for money, threatening to use the long arm of the government against those who did not pay. Another gave information to one vendor about the bids of other vendors in order to ensure his chosen vendor won the bid. Naturally, there was a quid pro quo and the winning vendor gave “gifts” to the elected official in gratitude for the assistance.

How did it come to this? Quite simply – we, the people, turned a blind eye to the mischievousness and elected these guys. This is not just a Macomb County problem; these kind of shenanigans happen everywhere. Let’s say you have a city whose mayor is a realtor, and this city loves to throw out money to developers for questionable developments such as a boutique hotel or theater in an area where there really is not a demand for such things, for if there were, they would have been built without tax money. Or a city with department heads who promote friends to supervisory positions, even though these friends may not really be deserving of these positions? Cronyism happens every day in communities across the country, and we, the people, do absolutely nothing about it.

It is even more galling when an official brags about it, as was the case of one of our local fire officials to the paper the other day. This particular official is running against the incumbent mayor in one of our Saint Clair County cities. This fire official’s wife just happens to be an official with fiduciary responsibilities for the exact same fire authority. Sure, it is technically okay, but it sure does not pass the stink test. Two members of the same household holding two high management positions with the exact same entity; sorry, but that stinks royally. You mean to tell me that of all the people out there, they cannot find one from a different household who cannot do one of those jobs? As my late grandmother from Pontiac would say, “Baloney sausage!” Wait; it gets better! This same couple holding two key positions with a fire authority then hired themselves to perform all the landscaping work for said fire authority. Really? There is not anyone else who can do this? “Baloney sausage!” Ah, but there is more! This same landscaping company received taxpayer dollars from the city for which this fire official is running for mayor. So you have a high government official for one entity not only receiving extra money above and beyond his salary from that entity but also from the government entity he seeks to be mayor of! Sweet! At least he is completely and totally transparent about the triple-dipping!

The problem with this attitude is that it makes a mockery of everything we are supposed to value about public service: honesty, humbleness, trust, and serving others. No one should go into public service, either as an official or a bureaucrat, to make a six figure income. It is absurd to pay a city manager of any city in Saint Clair County in excess of $100,000 per year, as there is not a single city in Saint Clair County that even has 30,000 people. It is even more egregious when a big percentage of the population is at or below the poverty line. Many at the bottom will never ever make one-third of that amount, but somehow they are supposed to be okay with the greed of those at top. Just because you have the right connections does not mean that you are somehow more qualified; it just means you have the right connections.

When you go to the polls, ask yourself: “Is my local government serving me?” If not, then change it. Otherwise, don’t complain.

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