PATRONAGE, QUID PRO QUO AND SINECURE : Fall River's Legacy of Shame

To understand the issue, we must first understand the words:

"DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS" of the following pertinent words -* Sinecure:
A position or office that requires little or no work but provides a salary. * Patronage:

Nepotism, bias, favouritism, preferential treatment, partiality a system based on corruption and political patronage.

* Quid pro quo:
Something for something; that which a party receives (or is promised) in return for something he/she does or gives or promises.

* 3-MBT:

The actual name is 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, or 3-MBT for short, or also known as "skunky thiol"

Second, we must review the issue.

Consider this set of circumstances. In a City long known for politicians using their influence and the power of their offices to either directly appoint, or indirectly use their influence to have appointed, people they favor who are hired for positions in and around City government as a matter of due course. Many times these individuals are qualified, by length of service within an office or department, or their ability, education and hands on training and experience to perform the duties required of a specific position. But in just as many instances, these politicians make appointments of unqualified individuals, or individuals that have served these politicians for years. As a result of these appointments to reward years of personal loyalty and service, usually resulting in considerably increased salaries related to "priming the retirement" pump, these individuals take the place of other more qualified and deserving candidates, especially those from within the specific department or operation involved, or preventing the consideration of more dynamic individuals from outside the department.

Oft times this situation becomes one of the awarding of one supervisory position, which the appointing politician legally controls, under a sub rosa (under-the-table) agreement that in exchange for that appointment from an inferior position to the one they are being appointed to, the new appointee will in turn hire a person the politician wants them to hire to replace them.

So in the parlance' of the three defined words, the act of a politician appointing, or having appointed by prior agreement, a long time, loyal employee to a better paying job, is patronage. If the job that person is appointed to does not require "heavy lifting" in terms of the expectations of that persons performance, the appointment can be seen as a sinecure for the appointee. And if the unqualified or patronage appointee is hired as a result of a prior agreement between the politician and the appointing authority controlled in some manner by the politician, say, by a promise of the top job itself, then you have the classic trade off or quid-pro-quo.

This sounds exactly like what has PROBABLY occurred between ol' Hamhocks Larue, out-going mayor, and his appointment of Alison Brett, a seemingly very qualified appointee, to replace the retiring City Clerk Ms. Carol Valcourt. By all appearances and accounts, Ms. Brett is very qualified to have the City Clerk position. That's where the situation gets murky.

Ol' Hamhocks longtime employee, Ms. Ines Leite, Hamhock’s director of communications and public information officer , has announced she is applying for the job. Complicating the situation is a letter by five (5) , and up to seven(7), City Councilors requesting that Ms. Brett consider Colleen Taylor, who works out of the City Clerk’s Office as City Council secretary, who is also seeking the job. " City Councilors Leo Pelletier and Pat Casey said they believe the 15-year City Council secretary will be unfairly passed over in favor of the Correia staff member. " (source:FRHN)

So, the stage is set for a typically needless City of Fall River Mayoral inspired passion play which will no doubt involve rumors of back room deals, the application of the three words, quid-pro-quo, patronage and sinecure, as well as possible framing of the race for Mayor in 2011. I honestly feel bad for two people...mayor-elect Will Flanagan and Ms. Brett.

You see, ol Hamhocks is such an anachronism, he is so entrenched in old fashioned politics (I mean mid 20th century politics!) that he can do nothing but be pecks bad boy breaking all the petty rules to irritate the City that voted NOT to retain him as their Mayor. I swear this guy will have to be removed from the 6th floor with pry bars and trained, deadly accurate firing skunks. It only stands to wonder whether all ol' Hamhock's patronage appointments, which actually go back two years upon him taking office, will be retained by the new administration.

A couple of crazy thoughts here. Why not let Ms. Brett make her own appointment? It's her office, and if it performs in one awful fashion after 2 years, fire her! Period, end of story. I mean, the Secretary of State publishes a very specific manual of the responsibilities of the City Clerks, with minute detail of procedures, forms, applicable state MGL's and statement of general philosophy. It is forms, requirements, licences and reporting deadlines for the records and documents the City Clerk is required to administer and keep. It is far from rocket science but requires persnickety attention to do well. So appoint her, if she's qualified, leave her alone, and be done with it. Frankly, this is one office that should, by agreement of all parties, be independent and separate from politics. Oh, that's right, this IS Fall River , after all.

The other suggestion that will surprise the tens of , er, ten that read this blog is.......... have Mayor-elect Flanagan repeat the taboo of his predecessor and request every one's resignation! At least this way, HE gets to make the critical appointments needed to help run the City. After all, he'll have every possible enemy down his neck for the next two years, why not let him appoint HIS people to critical positions as long as they are qualified. In my experience, good qualified people are recognized by those in power and those wanting to be in power....you find someone qualified who is doing a good job, you don't go around firing them just because you won an election. Only a foolish person would do that, and God only knows, there are plenty of problems requiring the new mayor's time and attention. "Get even" or patronage appointments are not one of them. Fire the one's who stink at what they do, regardless of who hired them.

Ok..let's see how this mess is resolved. I love drama, don't you?