He Seen His Opportunities and He Took 'em

 

     Years ago while writing my Scott Carson novel, The Doll Maker, I was doing my usual concurrent research while writing the first draft. Since it became central to the denouement, I needed some background into Seneca Village, the integrated neighborhood in midtown Manhattan that had shamefully been violently cleared through eminent domain and became, in 1857, Central Park.

     In the midst of my research, I came upon a colorful character from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one  George Washington Plunkitt, one of the men who'd perfected the concept of machine politics. Plunkitt, who was born in Seneca Village, came up toward the end of the Boss Tweed era of Tammany Hall's history. Largely through the cartoons of Thomas Nast, Tweed would eventually fall in 1873. But that by no means ended Tammany Hall's or New York City's corruption.

     19th century New York City marked a period of spectacular corruption, delineated in both the machine politicians of the Republicans and Democrats of Boss Platt and Boss Tweed, respectively, and the robber barons of Wall Street. It was so ingrained in city politics that even an incorruptible reform-minded Republican like Teddy Roosevelt lasted for just two years as the President of the NYPD Board of Commissioners.

     Plunkitt was renowned in his own time for distinguishing between "honest graft" and "dishonest graft". "Dishonest graft" was when an official sought to enrich only himself whereas "honest graft" gave something back to the people. Boss Tweed may have been one of the most corrupt politicians in US history but it can't be said that he didn't give back in the form of schools, libraries and hospitals.

     In 1905, right after his career ended, Plunkitt sat for a series of interviews that would become a book in which he expounded upon his political theories and justification for his corruption. By this time, Plunkitt was sitting on $2,000,000, which, converted to today's money, would be worth an astonishing $35,481,052.63. Plunkitt essentially used his various positions in city government to buy up land all over New York City, knowing that land would be needed for future building projects that, of course, he would shepherd into being.

     He summed it up by famously saying, "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em." Plunkitt was the 19th century's poster boy for political corruption- One who, once he's bought, he stays bought.

     Today's political corruption, obviously, at the city, state and especially the federal level, is just as naked and brazen as its 19th century's counterpart, only in different ways. But even Plunkitt would be dismayed by what he would no doubt call "dishonest graft" because today's politicians, especially Republicans, are obviously in it just for themselves while giving little to nothing back to their constituents.

     And that, finally, brings us to another George, George Santos, a man who's, literally, a fugitive from Brazilian justice, one whose mendacity is so brazen and spectacular in its own right that it leaves even other Republicans breathless with incredulity.

     Today, it was announced that Santos was indicted on 13 counts ranging from wire fraud to theft of public funds. Theoretically, if the court throws the book at him, he could be sent to prison for up to 20 years if found guilty on even one count.

     Among the charges are that Santos stole from his own campaign funds, hence his contributors, to buy designer clothes. It's reminiscent of when Santos stole an old man's checkbook so he could buy $1300 of, well, designer clothes and shoes.

     And, just to give one an idea of how incredibly brazen and hypocritical Santos is, he's even listed as a co-sponsor of a bill "which would crack down on unemployment benefits fraud". The reason I say "hypocritical" is because, among the 13 charges Santos is facing in the Eastern District of New York, committing unemployment fraud is one of them. What makes that especially brazen is that, in one of the few verifiable jobs Santos ever held down before getting elected to Congress on a, of course, anti-crime platform, he was making $120,000 a year for an organization that was eventually shut down for running a Ponzi scheme.

     

 

     Yeah, George, we were shocked to hear that, too.

     With George's name attached to it, it's unlikely it'll ever get out of committee although, if it does and becomes law, it'll guarantee a stiffer penalty if and when he's convicted on that count.

     Thus far, in his admittedly brief Congressional career, there's no evidence of Santos giving anything back to his district, not even his time in his congressional office in NY-3. If Plunkitt were alive today to see Santos, he would've literally kicked his ass and said, "M' boy, you don't know the first thing about being a crook."