Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Accountabilty Mayor Plays the Blame Game

Mayor4Life Bloomberg has written a nasty letter to the Obama administration, all but blaming the president for the proliferation of illegal guns. Of course, the Mayor-Eternal has always been for gun control, but he has generally reserved his criticisms for states that allow gun shows, not the federal government. Which is odd when you consider that GWB's presidency lifted not a finger to help. So why is the mayor all atwitter right at this moment?

The answer is pretty simple, in my opinion. Now that the murder rate in NYC has spiked, Bloomy is looking for someone to blame. You see, there is no way this mayor is going to take the rap for the 22% increase in killings so far this year. He only takes the credit when crime drops, not the blame when it increases. He has already claimed that the reduction in police might be to blame, and the economy, and now the president is in the crosshairs.


Is it fair to blame the mayor for the spike in murders? It could be the fault of the economy, but Bloomberg has been in charge of NYC's economy for the last 8 years. He can blame the reduction in the police force, but he is in charge of the police force as well. If one wanted to be ultra fair, one could say that despite nearly a decade in office, Bloomberg wasn't directly in charge of the economy, and that the reduction in police is due to the dive in the economy. Some of these factors may be beyond the mayor's control. He's not the only responsible party, so why should he take full responsibility?

Of course, teachers aren't the only ones in charge of students. If a teacher's passing rate for the ELA or math tests plunged 22% the way the mayor's murder rate has risen 22%, would Bloomberg be as fair in his determination of who gets the lion's share of the blame? No, he'd issue a Teacher Data Report that excoriated the teacher in question. If he has his way, such a teacher would be fired on the spot. It wouldn't matter whether there were factors outside the teacher's control. I mean, someone has to be held accountable, right?


Unless you're a billionaire mayor, of course.

3 comments:

Pete Zucker said...

Neat. I read about Herr Bloomberg's letter at Huff Post. He is such a botard.

NYC Educator said...

The thing about the economy is this==Mayorforlife Bloomberg's rationale for defying the term limits law and buying a third term was that only he, the money expert, could possibly steer the economic ship through these tough times. Correct me if I'm wrong. The fact that things still suck despite his third term ought to belie that rationale completely

Anonymous said...

Right you are and let us not forget this past week when the mayor blasted the State Politicians for having the nerve to ask for $ PAY TO PLAY. Not bad for the person who forked out millions to over turn term limits.