‘… the greatest enemy of our pols is their burning desire to hold on to public office, a desire that many times means fighting their kin.’
I ONCE had a conversation with a member of Congress, who had a dilemma that was common among his peers. With his term limit coming up, who would he endorse as the candidate to take his place? There was his wife, he told me, who he had already convinced to run for public office. But there was also his son, who already held a local post.
The problem with his wife, he added, was that she wasn’t polling well against his usual rivals.
Clearly, I opined, you just run your son and your problem is solved.
But it wasn’t that simple, he said. You see, if my son runs and wins then it will be difficult for me to get back my seat. Because after my son is done, he will want to pass his seat on to his wife, or even a son!
Very often, the greatest enemy of our politicians are their spouses, or kin, or the kin of their spouses or the spouses of their kin!
Then again, I may be missing the issue here. Very often, the fight for elective office is between people related by blood or by marriage, because someone refuses to give way and someone insists on butting in.
The greatest enemy is the burning desire to keep an iron hold on an elective post.
Know anyone in your area that fits this description?
We are told very often that public office is a thankless job. Perhaps that’s true, but only in the case of the government employees who live by the Bundy clock and die by the Bundy clock. I don’t think this is as true for many appointive posts, which come with many perks that the public is not aware of (directorships, for example). And this is not true for the elective posts, the higher up the totem pole the better, that comes with so many perks — from single-digit car plates to wang-wang escorts and, how can we forget, confidential funds that do not need to be liquidated.
So much so that in this day and age public office is not so much a public trust as it is a public trust fund. Yet, we very rarely take extra caution in selecting whom to cast our votes for those we entitle to dip their fingers into the kitty.
Last week, a minister of Singapore resigned when an investigation was opened up on his actions, which included receiving freebies from businessmen who had dealings with the Singapore government, particularly with his ministry. In contrast, a Filipino legislator rejoices that he has been found guilty merely of direct and indirect bribery rather than plunder; and an immediate appeal of the decision that sentences him to jail triggers a process that can take years to unfold.
By the time the decision is made final and executory, the appellant may already be dead — and impossible to jail. And in the interim, he was able to enjoy the perks of public office, including the acclaim we love to lather on our politicians — The Honorable!
If ours were a truly healthy democracy, the greatest enemy of politicians of the dubious kind should be the voting public that doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. But ours is no healthy democracy, and we as a people don’t have the inner steel required to demand from our officials (many of whom are our friends) the level of conduct that is required of Caesar’s wife. And so, yes, the greatest enemy of our pols is their burning desire to hold on to public office, a desire that many times means fighting their kin.
Because public office is a public trust (fund).
