WHACK A MOLE

I WAS READING YESTERDAYS Times Union editorial about the governor and the Yankee tickets and it reminded me of that carnival game “whack a mole”. You know the game you put in your money and little furry creatures (moles or prairie doggers) pop their heads up and you pound them with a big hammer It’s a lot of fun for the guy or gal with the hammer not so much fun for the mole.

That’s what the Times Union editorial reminded me of with the Times Union wielding the hammer

It’s easy to say that the gov should pay a huge fine for taking free tickets WHACK (of course it would have been nice to wait until someone actually produced evidence that the governor solicited the tickets all I heard was the Yankees say someone from the governors office not the governor asked for the tickets they never said who)

It’s easy to say the governor ignored warnings from his staff to pay for the tickets WHACK (of course all those warnings came after the fact when staff was trying to spin a news story – at the time the gov got the tickets his own counsel said it was ok they were for official business, seems to me we should be whacking the staff and the counsel not the gov)


It’s easy to say he lied under oath when he said he always intended to pay for the tickets WHACK (of course if the gov is never convicted of perjury he may be able to retire on what the TU will have to pay him for the libel lawsuit)

It’s easy to say he had the check backdated WHACK (of course read my post below about using special counsel Ralph as an expert witness on how the commission interprets check dates)WHACK (that one was me swinging the hammer I got to admit it’s a fun game)

It’s easy to say that the gov should set the tone for the rest of government by his actions WHACK (of course shouldn’t the commission set that tone as well its now 12 days with no answer to my question of HAS THE COMMISSION CHANGED THE WAY IT DETERMINES DUE DATES)

All right we know the Times Union can play whack a mole with the best of them BUT why has the Times Union failed to editorialize about the problems with the commission itself? Such as

The fact that the commission was actively investigating the governor while the governor had a bill on his desk for his signature that would have abolished the commission and nobody knew

The fact that the commission used the services of the chairs buddy to prosecute the case

The fact that the commission released its finding one day after the last testimony was taken even before the commissioners could review that testimony

The fact that the commission released its findings without taking the testimony of the key witness David Johnson

The fact that the commission’s case at the hearing was based almost entirely on hearsay

The fact that the commission’s case went in without the testimony of the key witness David Johnson

The fact that this commission has had an executive director that the Inspector General said leaked information to a target of an investigation

I’ve never seen the Times Union editorialize about any of that but I guess whack a mole is an easier game to play

And let me be clear I’m not a big fan of the governor, moles or prairie doggers We’ve all worked with people like them they are the workers in their cubicles never interacting with anyone else until they hear someone having fun and up they pop from there hole to see who it is and try to overhear what’s going on without having to take part annoying but not really harmful

But the one thing they learn is they can never win a game of whack a mole because the guy with the hammer only has to be good once As a result any prairie dogger that wants to survive keeps their head down

I think that explains why the governor never showed up for the hearing

I’m more a fan of Rocky V If one of my clients has to go to a commission hearing it will be a Rocky-Tommy Gunn matchup and we take it to the street