In my last Vines column (see # 10-09), I told you that I had inside info, which stated that upon finding out Eliot Spitzer’s team had tagged him for the Lieutenant-governor slot, David Paterson said: “they surely haven’t vetted me for this job”. And now Paterson goes up on a local radio station and directly corroborates said info. This had been a news item on the blogs (see Elizabeth Benjamin’s blog) last week. I hereby reiterate what I wrote in a column recently, calling for mainstream media (and alternative mediums too) to do a better job vetting candidates before elections are held; this is a responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the fourth and fifth estates (non-identical twins). And by fifth estate, I refer to all the alternative mediums that have sprung up with all the technological advancements in communications, since the founding fathers ratified the constitution (and the fourth estate). For example: the internet, twittering, blogging, texting and the like, can now be considered the fifth estate. 

According to the Historical Statistics of the United States, the population of the 13 colonies in 1780 was about 2.8 million, compared with around 19 million in New York State today. Which means that David Paterson, Rick Lazio and Andrew Cuomo, given the population they are drawn from, could be compared directly with George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the first three Presidents of the United States.

What will politics be like a decade from now? After a decade in which taxes on those without special exemptions rise each year, but public services are cut, as more and more money is diverted to the debts and retiree benefits older generations have promised themselves? A decade during which younger generations see their standard of living fall below what their parents’ received, and they struggle to pay those higher taxes, even as top executives continue to receive massive pay and bonuses and public employees continue to retire in their 40s or 50s to a life of leisure? A decade in which those born after 1956 approach old age with no pensions and little savings, and are told that public safety net benefits for seniors will no longer be there for them? And who do we have as possible leaders as we head into this abyss? Paterson, Lazio and Cuomo, three creatures of the system supported by those who benefit from it. As Generation Greed, from the public employee unions to the lobbyists to the advertisers to Fox News, seeks to continue to avoid the uncomfortable truths and deflect the outrage through deception, as millions of people refuse to acknowledge the reality of a society that, collectively, has felt the right to take out more than has been put in, it is quite possible that U.S. politics five or ten years from now will end up something like this.

REPORT OF the New York State Senate Select Committee to Investigate the Facts and Circumstances Surrounding the Conviction of Hiram Monserrate on October 15, 2009:

The Select Committee concludes and believes that sanctions against Senators should only be imposed in cases of serious misconduct. Expulsion should be considered only in the most egregious circumstances. Having considered the available evidence and evaluated the facts relating to the conduct that provided the basis for Senator Monserrate’s conviction, the Select Committee finds that this case is serious enough to warrant a severe sanction. In doing so, we are mindful that ultimately, the voters of Senator Monserrate’s district, where he plans to run for re-election, will decide whether or not he is returned to office…

As I've written repeatedly, two kinds of people have been getting richer for the past 30 years: the executives who sit on each other's boards and vote each other higher and higher pay, and today's senior citizens, the richest in history, particularly retired public employees, whose unions control state and local governments while cheating their younger members and the public. As I have demonstrated each year, most recently in my previous post, the retired, especially retired public employees, pay vastly lower taxes on the very same income — or even a lower income — than moderate and middle income young families. Presumably as part of the same self-dealing and institutional mass rape that provides them with higher incomes.  One should not be surprised, therefore, that the rich pay lower taxes too. And since in this era of Generation Greed ideologies are frauds, one should not be surprised that policies that provide massive public advantages for the privately better off have bi-partisan support.

It’s tax time again, and time to take stock of how the events of the past year have affected two fictional couples, the Young Hopefuls, now both age 30 with a four-year-old child, and the Senior Voters, now both age 70. You may recall that in 2007 each couple had an income of $100,000, with the Young Hopefuls paying $33,028 in federal, state and local taxes and the Senior Voters $14,169 on the very same cash income, even though the senior citizen couple in this example had far more wealth and non-cash benefits such as health insurance.

Things got worse for the Young Hopefuls in 2008, as the recession caused Ms. Hopeful to be laid off from her moderate income job and Mr. Hopeful’s self employment income to drop, while the Senior Voters, who are “living on fixed incomes” benefitted from automatic inflation adjustments for their Social Security and pension. The Senior Voters paid $13,453 in federal, state and local income and property taxes on their income of $102,593, or 13.1% of it. The Young Hopefuls paid more taxes — $16,070, on their far lower income of just $57,000, or 32.1% of it. So what happened to these couples in 2009?

Believe me when I say I didn’t want to touch Kevin Parker -as the subject of one of my columns- again. I have taken enough flack over the years for writing the truths about him and his anger-management issues. So I was quite happy as time went by, to see my columns vindicated time after time, by Mr. Parker’s own public behavior(s); while continuing to sit on information I have been privy to about his private bad behaviors for some time now. Information I have chosen not to release, since no matter what others may think, this isn’t personal on my part. I just strongly believe that electeds should be held to a higher standard of behavior (both private and public), given that they are role models for our youth; and also given that we have chosen them to represent the best in all of us, at one of the highest levels of government: the legislature.

All week while continuing to avoiding writing my Harold Ford piece, I’ve been receiving the same inquiry again and again in different forms.

A friend writes:

"What do you hear about the DP NY Times story? [unnamed Times Reporters] told me in 2008 that they had identified 17 women on gov. payroll who did DP. But, they would not write since NYT doesn't do sex lives. They were desperately searching for use of gov. or campaign money paying for hotels, etc. [Name withheld] and others would not talk since they had been promised jobs by the new Gov.

Rumors all over Albany have DP's resignation imminent. One source claims Times found DP owes big bucks to [unnamed major investor in  AEG] for gambling debts. I knew he did [unnamed cola product], screwed around with women on the payroll, drank too much and didn't like to go to work, lied freely, etc. But, I can't believe he was a gambler (still don't). Rumor says DP made [unnamed Chief of Staff] call [unnamed Times publisher] and threaten to release [unnamed Times publisher's] affair with [unnamed daughter of Dead President]. [Unnamed Chief of Staff and Counsel], etc. are looking to bail out.”