A Stitch in Haste

Mayor Bloomberg, so notorious for "running a tight ship" before he bought the mayor's office became a public servant, has no problem whatsoever playing fast and loose with payrolls when taxpayers foot the bill:

One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's first acts on starting his second term was to write a letter to personnel officials asking that his correction commissioner, Martin F. Horn, be allowed to collect a pension along with his $178,200 salary.

But to accomplish that under a state retirement law that seeks to prevent such "double-dipping," Mr. Bloomberg had to make the case that Mr. Horn was singularly qualified for the job, and that no one else of his talents and skills could be found for it.

So Mr. Bloomberg essentially declared that Mr. Horn, who also oversees the Probation Department, was the greatest commissioner in the world, and would, he wrote, "bring qualifications to these positions which cannot be matched by any other individual."

This is, of course, utter nonsense. It's also unethical, fraudulent and potentially perjurious.

Corrections Commissioner? Who does Bloomberg think he's kidding? In all of the country there is one and only one person capable of being New York City's chief jailor? Out of all the other corrections commissioners, wardens, criminology professors, police chiefs, sheriffs, etc., the only person who could possibly have been hired to run Rikers Island just happened to be a Bloomberg crony?

Ditto for another waiver:

Other recipients of a public sector pension and city paycheck include Joseph F. Bruno, a retired judge and fire commissioner, who Mr. Bloomberg said was "uniquely qualified" to become emergency management commissioner in 2004.

Again, a nation chock full of current and retired fire commisioners, emergency services administrators, police chiefs, military commanders and other candidates, and not a single one comes close to Mr. Bruno? He's so vital that he needs to collect both a paycheck and a pension?

Here's my favorite: the chief life guard at Coney Island received one of Bloomberg's "no pension" waivers — because there are simply no other lifeguards to be found anywhere in the country I guess.

Bloomberg didn't invent this practice, to be sure. But also to be sure, when he promised that he would not become "just another politician," that he would be "a different kind of mayor," and that it would no longer be "business as usual" in New York City politics, he lied.