Published: June 20, 2008 01:03 am            

FAIR GOVERNMENT: The wasting of a great regional asset

My biggest pet peeve is that we tend to value things rather than people, when in fact people are our most valuable asset. It’s important this week that we talk about the New York Power Authority. But not before we value the source of much of our information regarding power generation in our area.

Without journalists this country would be nowhere. Journalists — good ones — hold people’s feet to the fire, celebrate greatness, shine a light on greed and corruption, embrace heroes and reflect on their own lives and the lives of others. We are all reduced to voyeurs, reading someone else’s journal of our world.

The New York Power Authority — maybe the greatest visual sign of greed, graft and corruption in all of Western New York, has an important vacancy to fill in the next few weeks. Its CEO, Roger Kelley, quit. One year into his appointment he apparently realized it wasn’t such a cushy job after all. He probably realized he may have been CEO, but he wasn’t in charge. When he realized NYPA wasn’t a conglomeration of electrical generating facilities, but a political power generator complete with an FBI-style political dirty tricks department, he may have wanted to save any shred of dignity he had and get out as fast as possible.

And the man Kelley replaced, Tim Carey, was a political patronage hire of Governor Pataki. We’re not talking about politically connected, we’re talking someone who was highly qualified in getting the governor elected, but had no experience in power generation. The chance that Governor Paterson will conduct a national search for a highly accomplished engineer with management experience are zero. Which leaves us hoping that Paterson choose the best political patronage hire possible. How incredibly sad it is to write that sentence.

Before we can let ourselves consider the next NYPA CEO appointment, a job that pays $225,000 plus one of the richest benefit packages in the country, we need to give a nod to the way in which we’ve come to be so well informed on the inner workings of NYPA and our continuing quest to figure out why we pay the highest utility rates in the country when we are host to the power plant.

I would pose that one of Western New York’s greatest assets is not the actual power plant itself, but the journalist who is turning into the foremost authority on power generation in the country. Jim Heaney, who has his work published but clearly writes out of love for our community rather then any paycheck, has flayed the state of our power production system. He’s laid bare the dirty secrets of the state power authority, and we’re all better for it.

The decision of Gov. Paterson on the next CEO of NYPA may already have been made. The vacancy occurs July 15, which is basically only one state pay period away, and state employees think that way — in state pay periods. The leading names put forth thus far are all standard political hacks and it was even rumored this week that our very own state senator extraordinaire, George Maziarz, joked that he should put his own name up for consideration. Maziarz will have enough of a role already, being the chairman of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee through which any name forwarded by Paterson must pass.

The very strange selection of M&T Bank CEO Robert Wilmer’s as the state’s new Economic Development Director proves anything can and does happen in this state. Governor Paterson, who has already announced he plans to seek election to a full term as governor in 2010, has a crucial opportunity to be a leader with the NYPA appointment. It’ll be a look into whether he plans to lead, follow, or simply get out of the way.

Let’s hope Gov. Paterson chooses to lead.

Tom Christy is the founder of FAIR Government, a non-political and non-editorial educational foundation dealing with local government issues. HYPERLINK "http://www.fair-government.org" www.fair-government.org. He encourages communication and can be reach via email at aim1986@mac.com

        

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