WALKING THE BEAT: When Newspapers Know Better Than Auditors

WE READ where the State is investigating $500k that it may have incorrectly paid to a nursing home. The State’s auditors are looking at that payment – good. Then you read on, and the writers tell that the publication has deep new questions over that grant!!! WAIT A MINUTE. Professional auditors did not find the so-called deeper issues??? They did not locate all the documents? The State should have hired the reporters instead (?). Maybe we should wait until the final outcome before judging during this holiday period! Or say, “HUMBUG”…. BIRTHDAY wishes to State Rep. Rosita YOUNGBLOOD; her day is on the 20th! Harry LEECH has his day on the 18th – and is a reason why the TURNPIKE should not be sold!

SHARING this photo at Waldorf Astoria CHOP reception were Eleanor & Al Dezzi and Pat Murphy. Photo by Joe Stivala

THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY: Right on time each year, a reporter asks why the Society weekend is not held in Pennsylvania. This year, it was said it began so barons of industry could meet in private. You can do that anywhere. (It was for Pennsylvanians working in the Big Apple to celebrate their state each year with other geographically removed Pa. folks). As a lad working in Penn Station, I felt the same way. Now they say youth input is needed. Youth input was always part of the weekend. You can meet anyone of importance in the Waldorf lobby and chat with relaxed ease. The Society midyear lunch, in Pennsylvania, is the site for a youth forum…. ELEANOR DEZZI, leading political consultant, is elated over the birth of new grandchild James Fauls Dezzi, Jr. – the first male grandchild! Bravo!

THE DRUG COPS issue has caused such a stir with testimony in doubt. District Attorney SETH WILLIAMS acted in a proper way. It might be better to disband the squad and create a new police division…. SO, how much new business and commerce has the MAYOR’S trip to CHINA brought us here in Philly? What was the cost of the trip versus benefits?

State Rep. Vanessa Lowery BROWN is holding holiday open houses to get out information and help sources for kids and youth. Her energy is truly endless…. State Rep. John SABATINA is working with other lawmakers to combat Methadone abuse – which has grown, so that most of us know of it. Thank you, Rep!

COUNCILWOMAN Marian TASCO and the GAS COMMISSION should NOT authorize $2.7 million to guide the City through a sale of the Gas Works. The money would be spent on assessing public opinion to the sale and a website on the sale; WHO NEEDS IT? It would also be spent to build support for the sale. Would that be UNFAIR ADVANTAGE with public funds? Also a possible conflict of interest and an effort to guide City Council, which reminds me of a wrestling CHOKE hold on CITY COUNCIL Members. Do NOT SELL the Gas Works, now it is on the road to viability!… Councilman Kenyatta JOHNSON, along with Councilman Bill GREENLEE, has added funding to housing for domestic-violence victims, with 100 new beds! Johnson is holding a holiday food drive, and job fair. He will PUSH hard for the casino location, as proposed by State Rep. Bob BRADY, in his district. Hope he will ALSO “curb” the size of massive curbs, now being built in his district – as mentioned in New York last week.

PROVISIONAL BALLOTS: That issue was resolved extremely well, with good explanations and clarity. It took time to count the ballots, BUT it gave our votes meaning; and clamor by one group was much ado about nothing. Thanks to Commissioners Anthony CLARK and Al SCHMIDT…. “THERE YOU GO again” was the line from Reagan to Carter. State House Majority Leader Dominic PILEGGI wants to change the way the State counts electoral votes. First a rushed VOTER ID, now this? BURY THAT BILL!

There is good discussion saying the Governor’s Office of Open Records is not so open. We need to stay on this issue!.. Last year in New York, the Guv himself seemed transparent as he entered a party and was gone – we did not see him leave. Maybe it was open-records osmosis?

And PRIVATIZE the state lottery – one of the most successful anywhere? Bull! Does the GOP want to sell the Capitol as well?… Local 2186 leader Mike WALSH sued to stop the pay raise to some city workers because procedures should have been followed. Isn’t this the raise that, after taxes, is not so much a raise? Walsh did the right thing for now and the long term.

I met Judge Webster KEOGH in New York with his lovely wife, Kathy. I kept thinking of his term as Administrative Judge. It was an ERA OF GOOD FEELING, similar to the period in America when all factions worked for the common good. Operation of law operated well. MAYBE the new BAR ASSOCIATION Chancellor will help restore that era. I am weary of investigations of jurists, and courts, he said, she said, and the na-na-na-na-na stuff…. AND TRAFFIC COURT: They won’t let it go. The courthouse scandal, which seemed to spark the Traffic Court probe, quietly disappears beneath the waves with the $4 million payment. But why?

The subtle demand that Traffic Court judges be lawyers can be INSULTING to lawyers who seek Municipal Court and Common Pleas posts to deal with all law, not only the VEHICLE CODE. Forget that baloney proposal to make the test and knowledge of the law very tough for a PEOPLE’S COURT jurist…. And MERIT SELECTION – look at the gridlock and logjam when jurists of merit are proposed to federal courts.

The daily press Sunday feature on the Rappaport ticket showed the BAA parking-ticket hearing bureau brings in far more money. WHY NOT? What is the conviction rate vs. Traffic Court? The BAA is run by the CITY FINANCE DEPT. It hears its OWN APPEALS. It has been called a subliminal tax. That very same article says citizens, on hearing of the Rappaport ticket, were upset as they sought justice. Ah, sweet justice. In my 40 years of covering traffic court, I saw “justice” as actually seeking a discharge. If you are found guilty – will you be HAPPY?

And right on time, as I PREDICTED, the daily press signaled they will screen candidates. This means many stories can be written, due to a spate of candidates. Will lawyers only then be endorsed? Who wants an editorial non-endorsement from a faceless or nameless person who may live in the suburbs (?).

When I saw the photo used of Mr. Chadwick, it seemed old, or of poor and grainy quality, and out of focus. On seeing it, all I could think of saying was, “Ah – I confess, I confess.” I do confess to the time in the late 1960s when I belonged to a REFORM DEMOCRATS group. One of the top reformers phoned me to ask if I knew anyone who could “adjudicate” his red-light ticket. I asked him, “Why this fall from grace?” He then hung up…. I read where Philly citizens were “shocked” to discover ticket fixing. I then looked outdoors to see if citizens where shouting their anger from their windows. Only silence. The story provided no statistics to support the claim (?).

Fire Commissioner LLOYD AYERS got good marks during my visit to a Firehouse while in the Big Apple. AYERS published 9 points on Christmas-tree safety. He urges you to recycle trees at City Sanitation yards at Domino Lane, 63rd Street, or Ashburner Lane.

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