Arthur Schaper: Fung: Full Disclosure on Funding and Failures
Friday, January 17, 2014
Past failings should not inhibit one's capacity to serve the present, provided that we grow from failures, and they betray no moral failings, believes Arthur Schaper.
Donations and Donors
First, Go Local reported on Fung's campaign donations and donors earlier this year, and also last year.
He gave hundreds of dollars to Democratic candidates in the past. That sucks. Then again, Democratic mayor Taveras gave Fung money, too. Dr. Dan Harrop's own admission about funding for candidate Taveras could not make the case any better: you give money to the (oh so slighty ) better candidate. Sometimes a RINO is better than a "Hell No!" candidate. And in Rhode Island, sometimes that means settling for a Democrat.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFor the record, I have friends who voted for Bill Clinton instead of Bob Dole in 1996, and sometimes I think that they made the better choice!
Later, regarding his campaign war chest,
Fung received $7,000 in donations from individual police officers. There is nothing wrong with that. Individual employees, public or private, have every right to contribute their salaries as they see fit. The real problem emerges when candidates are accepting corporate (yes, corporate!) donations from union funds, i.e. collecting donations from collective bargaining units. Whether the candidate is a Republican or a Democrat, those monies are not fully voluntary donations, since they draw from coerced union dues. Citizens United should give way to Workers Relieved, as in relieved from compelled membership and compulsory dues to a worker's union in order to have and keep a job.
By the way, RI GOP Chairman Mark Smiley gets props for saying "No!" to union money. Chairman Jim Brulte of the CA GOP took a stipend of sorts from the SEIU. Are public sector cronies are buying both sides of the aisle in Sacramento? They have already bought the Rhode Island General Assembly. Still, as long as politicians respond to individual interests instead of gang-bang bullying, then the voters can expect a government which works for everyone, not just for the gainfully employed.
Cranston Ticket Scandal
More unsettling disclosures followed in Fung's footsteps, with the ticket scandal of Cranston , a day which will live in media-hyped infamy. Let me see if I can write this up without missing the fine gritty politics underneath. Two Democrats on the city council (there are seven Dems and two Reps, plus mayor Fung). The first revelation in this scandal, asuccès de scandale, begins with Dem councilmembers Steven A. Stycos and Paul H. Archetto, who voted against a labor contract favored by (and certain to favor) the city police union. Their reason: it was too expensive.
Democrats in Rhode Island voting against an overgenerous labor contract: Has hell frozen over? (I know that Rhode Island did this year, but wow!)
Twenty-four hours afterward, Cranston police issued 128 parking tickets in the two councilmembers' wards. In effect, they sustained political retaliation for representing their constituents at the expense of expensive public sector unions. Bravo, Stycos and Archetto. The rub deepens when four anonymous letters detailed this retaliation to Stycos. Fung sparked an internal investigation, but when the tickets hit the fan, Fung called on the Rhode Island state police to get involved.
First of all, I cannot think of a stupider form or retaliation then ticketing taxpaying Cranstonites, whose representatives rejected a lavish contract, which would have come out of the pockets of the very people ticketed. Can someone shout "Chutzpah"? It's one thing to smear a harsh radio critic, but when public unions attack the very people who pay their salaries (pensions, benefits), whom they are supposed to serve, once has to wonder if they are pushing to disband themselves out of a subtle sense of misplaced guilt.
Second, Fung could have immediately sought outside firms to investigate this corruption. At least now everyone knows what unions will do to get "theirs" out of yours. Last of all, Fung demonstrated some (some!) leadership in placing Cranston police chief Marco Palombo Jr . on leave. Will this black eye leave Fung out of the running?
Maybe Fung's latest admission will, or not.
Crash Disclosure
Go Local reported this week that Fung killed a man in 1989. Scandalous? ProJo reported that 18-year-old college boy Fung lost consciousness while driving down I-95 and struck a man. A grand jury declined to indict Fung, who paid restitution to the family. Associated Press (by way of Huffington Post) provides more details from then and now. While critics may cynically assume that Fung's full disclosure flows from his drive to protect his gubernatorial run, Fung had acknowledged this terrible tragedy. . . in 2002, when he ran for city council, but ProJo declined to run the story then(!)
Strictly speaking, this accidental death was not a secret!
Frankly, Fung's disclosure is respectable, not diminishing the painful consequences of his fatal negligence. He acknowledged the wrongdoing then and now. Leaders should not fear to acknowledge their failures. One question comes to mind: would we be as lenient with opposition candidates as well as our own who disclose previous personal failings? Past failings should not inhibit one's capacity to serve the present, provided that we grow from failures, and they betray no moral failings.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance. Follow him on Twitter@ArthurCSchaper, reach him at [email protected], and read more at Schaper's Corner and As He Is, So Are We Ministries.
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