Are these the bums we need to vote out?

Like most New Yorkers who pay attention to these things, I was a wee bit skeptical today when I read that Sen. Pedro Espada of the Bronx insisted there was no connection between his sudden re-defection to the Democrats earlier this summer and the hiring of his son to a newly created $120,000-a-year legislative job.

A friend said today he planned to vote against all incumbents until further notice, just to show his frustration at the on-going shenanigans at the Capitol.

For the uninitiated, this is the latest twist in the sad tale of the this year's New York State Senate. Espada and some cohorts have seemed to use the closeness of the partisan divide (32 Dems, 30 Repubs) to enhance their personal power and, in this case, a family bank account, by swinging back and forth between the parties. If the job for this son, created in the midst of a hiring freeze and a fiscal crisis, was not a bribe, it was the next thing to it. His side of the margain was to return to the Democratic fold, after briefly being the leader of the Republicans.

Voting against all incumbents to developments like this is not at all an irrational response, I told my friend.

But then in the mail today, a got well-wishes from a couple of legislators I have known for a long time. It would be exaggerating to say I have gotten a flood of messages from lawmakers and other officials at the Capitol since my diagnosis, but there have been many more than I would have expected, and many from officials I wouldn't have guessed would be so considerate.

Thus another example of the constant conundrum of American politics and government, where most people think little of their legislative bodies, but for the most part like legislators as individuals and keep re-electing them. There's something about the definition of insanity that comes to mind here.

I don't have a pat solution to propose to this. One reason I have found politics to be fun to cover is many of the people involved are interesting and fun. But they have the same failings and weaknesses as the rest of us - in fact, often writ large because they frequently have outsized pesonalities and egos.

I'm sure there are even some people who admire Espada, maybe for the way he has managed to play the system. But there is every reason for citizens to be frustated and every reason to hold them accountable in the next election, regardless of how nice they are.

(How's that for a no-holds-barred opinion? At least I didn't use the dreaded phrase, "'on the other hand.")