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Thread: Are you a political hack? Take the quiz!

  1. #1
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    Are you a political hack? Take the quiz!

    This seemed fitting for WNY.

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    By Darren Johnson

    Are you a political hack?

    I know it sounds like a dirty term, but if you are honest with yourself, you should know the answer. There's nothing to be ashamed of, and the situation can be overcome.

    Let's define the term first. A political hack is someone who got a job because they did some unrelated work for a politician or political party, or they know someone, or know something damaging about someone, and the person was given a job to keep him or her happy.

    But, if that definition fits you, you've probably found that there's little satisfaction in hackwork. You are what you do -- work is life -- so hollow hackwork rots the soul. It can even screw up your family life -- more on that later.

    First off, before you get confused or start feeling unnecessary guilt, note that there are two types of political jobs, and one type is better than the other.

    The first type is where someone truly qualified for a job, with a proven track record in that field, goes from a non-political job to a political one. For example, if someone is a computer pro, helps Joe Republicrat get elected, then Joe Republicrat hires the computer pro to be his IT director, at a fair market wage, that seems reasonable. People like to hire people they know and trust. It's human nature and done everywhere, private and public sectors.

    The second type of political employee -- the hack -- is more worrisome. For example, Nassau's former IT director, Craig Love, recently resigned from a six-figure job, admitting that he really knew nothing about computers. He was an accountant, after all. He did the right thing and his self-honesty will take a weight off his shoulders and add years to his life. Good for him.

    You see, the political hack could be someone who is not qualified for the job. Or, the reverse: It could be a job that's so easy, practically anyone could do it. Some are even no-show jobs.

    If you find yourself sitting at a desk a lot at work with little of importance to do, you're a hack. And this is not good for you. As people, we need to be challenged in our jobs to give us a sense of self-worth. If what we do is not important, then what does that say about ourselves? We will start to look like hacks; grayer, older than our real age. Our moral compass will be askew and we'll start to act like hacks, looking for shortcuts in life and easy deals. We'll step on people.

    You do take your work home with you, whether you realize it or not. It's that third of a day that shapes adult personality. You can't turn it off when you punch out at 4 or 5 p.m.

    One of the most egregious recent examples of political hackism was Steve Baranello's appointment to Director of Internal Marketing (what's that?!) at Suffolk County OTB, despite that Baranello had no training or degree in the field of marketing.

    What he had been was Steve Levy's chief advisor during Levy's winning bid for county executive last fall and landed the OTB plum soon after election day.

    In his short tenure, he had to resign his six-figure job after a District Attorney investigation found him guilty of accepting bribes; and Baranello was far from a model employee at OTB -- even allegedly running an illegal Democratic Party printing press there.

    However, if not for being caught, Baranello could have had that worthless job for life, and earned millions of tax dollars. How many other employees are there out there like him?

    It's worth noting that Baranello's father was once a Democratic boss and no stranger to patronage -- and here's the part about family values being affected by such a system:

    The younger Baranello grew up in a house learning that connections were more important than qualifications. He never learned fairness and justice -- and justice caught him.

    If you are a political hack, do you want your kids to believe in justice and fairness? Or do you want them to behave less civilized, taking whatever they believe they can get? Your kids are watching you. They may copy your example, or, if they don't, they may someday look down upon your choices.

    I can relate to this problem. I had many jobs as a teen, and the ones I look back at with the most disdain were the political ones. They make me feel cheap even imagining doing again.

    These were the Reagan years. The Gipper was keeping minimum wage at a disgusting $3.35 (and I lived in Utica, N.Y., where employers usually paid as low as they could get away with) and cutting financial aid (I'm still paying these loans Reagan substituted for federal aid).

    During the school year, I would work the $3.35 jobs -- Burger King, whatever (they once gave me a nickel raise, however, to be honest, so make it $3.40). But in the summer, probably because my parents were GOP committee people and did work for the party, helping elect a Republican mayor for the first time in decades, I'd get summer jobs that paid about $4.50 to $5.50. The amount is a joke now, but was a huge raise from $3.35!

    The first year, when I was 16, I just showed up like any other job and some boss worked me hard around the city hall, which had a park around it. Picking weeds all day, planting stuff, cleanup. Real work. But soon things shifted and I was inside City Hall and would get crazy assignments.

    I'd usually be sitting around with some old guys in a dingy basement, but I'd sometimes get calls to fix things like air conditioners, even though I had no such training, and somehow I'd fix them. I also had to wash the mayor's car every day. It was just a Chrysler New Yorker, too.

    By the third summer, I was working for the water board and that was a waste. My first day, someone asked me who got me the job, I said the mayor and everyone was hands-off all summer. None of the bosses ever wanted to take me on their crews. I guess they didn't trust me because they got their jobs through the previous administration, or because I was a college guy. I did flag duty a few times. Very little important work.

    Every morning, I'd buy two or three newspapers, because I knew no crew would pick me up, and just sit and read them cover to cover all day, in between breaks or busywork. I'd read every little article. It was great background for my future journalism training. I maybe had a half hour of work around the building to do, which I'd stretch out over eight hours. Guys would wander in and out, and we'd play cards. Some people punched in in the morning, left in their own vehicles, then came back only to punch out.

    By 18, I moved to Eastern Long Island for college and by 19 just stayed there for good because the jobs paid better and the lifestyle was better. But I could see, if I didn't have the option of moving or college, getting stuck in a job like the water board. It paid better than the local private sector, it was tremendously easy, and I could be there for life.

    But what kind of life would that be?

    I'd have always wondered what could have been. Regret and the feeling of lost potential are strong emotions that can make you bitter in the end. I've spoken with a lot of older people, and many have regrets that haunt them. They coulda been! It's very sad.

    I have little doubt, and I'm sure that there have been studies that prove this, that such regret does take years off your life. It could cause you to make bad lifestyle decisions, like taking up smoking; it could add tension into your family life. Who wants to be around a sour puss? And tension causes many biological problems, like high blood pressure, which leads to strokes and heart attacks.

    Old texts used to refer to people dying of melancholia -- and I believe that this still today is a very serious killer.

    So being a political hack can destroy you as a person, as well as your family life. But, if you change directions now, you can right the ship, live longer and benefit your family and generations to come by showing them that standing up for one's ideals -- having dreams -- is more important than some lousy job.

    It's going to take some work. When you quit your hack job and look for a job that's more interesting, you'll realize that in the real world the pay's not as good.

    You've probably gotten used to having name brands and bigger-than-average cars. These things will have to go (unless you were really good at saving your money over the years -- most hacks aren't because of their live-now, low-self-esteem situation).

    Is it really that big a deal if you have to move from a five-bedroom house to a three-bedroom? If the pool's above ground instead of inground? If the car's a Ford Focus instead of an Explorer? So you get bunk beds for the kids. You eat home a little more instead of going out. That's better for family harmony anyway. Get a pizza instead of dinner entrees. Have hamburgers instead of steaks.

    These are practical compromises -- considering that it's your soul is on the line.


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    Take the political hack quiz!

    --Did you get your job by knowing someone political?

    --Do you find your job boring and/or merely busywork?

    --Did you get your job without a formal application/resume/interview process (perhap you were the only candidate and the job wasn't well advertised)?

    --Are you unqualified or over-qualified for your job title?

    --Could practically anyone do your job?

    --Do you earn more and/or have more job security than you would have in the private sector?

    --Is your paycheck more important to you than your daily work tasks?

    --Have people noticed your personality has changed, or do you feel more sour or depressed, since taking your job?

    If you answered "yes" to five or more of the above questions, you are probably a hack.

  2. #2
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    One of the most egregious recent examples of political hackism was Steve Baranello's appointment to Director of Internal Marketing (what's that?!) at Suffolk County OTB, despite that Baranello had no training or degree in the field of marketing.
    Correct me if i'm wrong but wasn't this what Anthony Orsini was at OTB?

  3. #3
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    --Do you earn more and/or have more job security than you would have in the private sector?
    Hmmm I bet a lot of our government employees could answer yes to this.

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