Friday, February 25, 2005
It is difficult to imagine that New Yorkers will vote for an 85 year old man to be District Attorney, but, on the other hand, it is hard to imagine any one other than Robert M. Morgenthau as New York District Attorney. Who was DA before him, Frank Hogan? His justification for running impresses me as close to undeniable: "I've got a terrific staff, I'd like to hold them together," he said. "The only way I can do that is by running."
Morgenthau does have a terrific staff-- always has. I was thinking about that today, and contrasting the way that office, and the Brooklyn DA's office, work with the way the Erie County District Attorney, Frank Clark, runs the show. Clark has been pretty visible lately because the County Executive has told him he has to trim his staff due to the budget crisis. (The number I heard today was 35 to 40 lawyers.) Clark does not want to do this, and has been arguing that there will be a crime wave if his office has to fire that many people. Can you imagine Bob Morgenthau saying that? Morgenthau would fight like a tiger to keep his people, to be sure, but he wouldn't ever say that his team couldn't get the job done-- and he'd be right. Morgenthau's ADAs would roll up their sleeves, and they'd keep on keeping on.
The difference is that Morgenthau picks his staff on merit. Politics is all about money, of course, and one way that it is about money is patronage. In terms of patronage, the DA's job is just about the best there is: not only do you get to give out jobs, but the jobs you get to give out are really good jobs. Well paying, prestigious lawyer jobs. Just for fun, I had a look at the Erie County Bar Association's Lawyers Directory to see how many surnames I recognized over in Clark's office. It is quite a list. Quite a few "Jr.s" and even more "IIIs". I'm sure many of these people are fine lawyers, and diligent public servants, but it is pretty obvious how they got their jobs in the first place, and frankly, that's not how you put together a staff like Morgenthau's.
Oh, and speaking of great jobs, Morgenthau's grandfather was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire for Woodrow Wilson. How great a job would that have been?
Morgenthau does have a terrific staff-- always has. I was thinking about that today, and contrasting the way that office, and the Brooklyn DA's office, work with the way the Erie County District Attorney, Frank Clark, runs the show. Clark has been pretty visible lately because the County Executive has told him he has to trim his staff due to the budget crisis. (The number I heard today was 35 to 40 lawyers.) Clark does not want to do this, and has been arguing that there will be a crime wave if his office has to fire that many people. Can you imagine Bob Morgenthau saying that? Morgenthau would fight like a tiger to keep his people, to be sure, but he wouldn't ever say that his team couldn't get the job done-- and he'd be right. Morgenthau's ADAs would roll up their sleeves, and they'd keep on keeping on.
The difference is that Morgenthau picks his staff on merit. Politics is all about money, of course, and one way that it is about money is patronage. In terms of patronage, the DA's job is just about the best there is: not only do you get to give out jobs, but the jobs you get to give out are really good jobs. Well paying, prestigious lawyer jobs. Just for fun, I had a look at the Erie County Bar Association's Lawyers Directory to see how many surnames I recognized over in Clark's office. It is quite a list. Quite a few "Jr.s" and even more "IIIs". I'm sure many of these people are fine lawyers, and diligent public servants, but it is pretty obvious how they got their jobs in the first place, and frankly, that's not how you put together a staff like Morgenthau's.
Oh, and speaking of great jobs, Morgenthau's grandfather was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire for Woodrow Wilson. How great a job would that have been?
// posted by Bill @ 3:21 PM 
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