Peter King And Pay To Play Politics Does Not Equal A Senator

Congressman Peter King, one of three Republicans left in New York's Congressional delegation has been a big talker lately. While Paterson jumbled the appointment process of Caroline Kennedy Andrew Cuomo Kristen Gillibrand, King was in the press talking himself up and his Democratic adversaries down. He's thinking of running for the Senate when the special election is held next year, but he has a lot of hurdles to jump through first, especially those he's created himself.

From The NY Daily News:

U.S. Rep. Pete King funneled $3 million in taxpayer money to a campaign donor for custom manhole covers that Con Ed said could be dangerous, a Daily News probe found.

The Long Island Republican sponsored federal dollars to pay for about 5,000 locking manhole covers designed to thwart terrorists. They would cover only about 2% of Con Ed's manholes in the city.

Con Ed said no but that didn't have to stop Manhole Barrier Security Systems (of Long Island of course) from getting their contract. Now how would you want to get around Con Ed's refusal? Hmmm...

The company CEO, his wife, some relatives and lobbyists contributed $16,700 to King as he was trying to earmark funds for the firm, records show.

CEO Michael Manoussos first gave $4,000 to King beginning in August 2006. In March 2007, King requested money for the covers. That year, the effort failed.

Manhole Barrier tried again last year. This time, Manoussos got relatives and lobbyists to kick in as well, records show.

He and his wife, Dawn, each gave the maximum allowed, $4,600, on Feb. 7. Two company lobbyists donated on the same day, and two other Manoussos relatives gave another $1,500 shortly after.

So the company stirred the magic ingredients in the corrupt pot of one Peter King and lo and behold, the next month the Long Island Congressman had a $3 million dollar contract for them. That is how things work in Congress when the system is utterly broken. Of course Congressman King worded the request a little bit differently when he submitted for the money, but his buddies at Manhole Security got what they wanted. It really is amazing what a few thousand dollars can get you in the game of pay to play. I can't wait for King to answer the questions surround this as he opens his Senatorial bid.

Not Much Thanks For These Indian Workers

Four days without a post and I am starting to feel funny, so its Monday, four days after Thanksgiving and there's still plenty to report on. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that no one ate more than I did (or else you'd be pretty sick), I was at my aunt's house and the amount of food was enough for 60 people, not the six that were in attendance. Meanwhile halfway across the world, there are hundreds of Indian workers that provide a small slice of New York's infrastructure, but barely get anything in return for their hard work.

From The New York Times:

The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That’s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times — images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York’s manhole covers are born.

When officials at Con Edison — which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India — were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.

“We were disturbed by the photos,” said Michael S. Clendenin, director of media relations with Con Edison. “We take worker safety very seriously,” he said.

Nevertheless, these disturbing pictures will not do a damn thing in changing where Con Ed buys their manhole covers. If anything, design specifications might phase out this Indian company's contract sooner or later. Con Ed will continue to follow the pre-eminent policy of buying the cheapest product that fits what they want to place on top of the thousands of holes in our city's streets and sidewalks. That goes for the city of Syracuse and New Orleans as well.

When you are walking down the street today, make sure you remember where that heavy piece of iron came from....and give thanks that they are not too badly injured for Con Ed's reduced price.