EDITORIAL: Don't ignore Guadagno's missteps.

EDITORIAL: Don't ignore Guadagno's missteps.

“It is a reminder that nearly everyone in politics, even someone as relatively inconsequential as Guadagno, seems to be wired the same way: Tell everyone else what they can and can't do, but ignore those rules for yourself. This is why so many New Jerseyans— so many Americans — are sick of politics. This is why we have so little faith in our elected leaders and so little trust in their integrity. This is why only the partisan hardcore followers can muster any enthusiasm and support, and while it all consipires to create a dysfunctional system dominated by extremism and wealth.”

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/06/10/guadagno-pension/10253499/

We don't hear much from, or about, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. That's by design; the last thing Gov. Christie wants is an underling stealing a sliver of spotlight away from him.
But Guadagno is very much a part of this administration, and Christie seems to have no problem with the fact that Guadagno may have abused the state's bloated pension system to satisfy her own interests, even while Christie plans to take more away from the rank-and-file public employees who don't have political connections.
It was several years ago, remember, when Guadagno was first accused of messing around with job titles during her time as Monmouth County sheriff in order to pad the pension eligibility of a top deputy. The Attorney General's office and the Treasury Department were supposed to investigate.
But according to documents obtained by New Jersey Watchdog, there wasn't much of an investigation at all. In fact, officials appear to have largely blown the whole thing off, which isn't exactly a surprise given the various conflicts of interest Guadagno has in the case. For instance, Guadagno is a former deputy director of the attorney general's Division of Criminal Justice which was supposed to carry out the probe.
Guadagno isn't saying anything, of course, and neither is anyone in the administration. The investigation — whatever there was of it — was supposedly completed two years ago, but no one has bothered to offer up any results. Meanwhile, taxpayers may have been cheated out of more than $200,000 thanks to Guadagno's alleged manipulation.
There's nothing terribly unusual here, sadly, but it's disheartening nonetheless. It is a reminder that nearly everyone in politics, even someone as relatively inconsequential as Guadagno, seems to be wired the same way: Tell everyone else what they can and can't do, but ignore those rules for yourself.
This is why so many New Jerseyans— so many Americans — are sick of politics. This is why we have so little faith in our elected leaders and so little trust in their integrity. This is why only the partisan hardcore followers can muster any enthusiasm and support, and while it all consipires to create a dysfunctional system dominated by extremism and wealth.
But those same leaders aren't going to change anything. They want the dysfunction because they can exploit it. They also know the public's supposed ability to vote out the evildoers is largely a sham, an effective power gutted by bloated campaign financing and a gerrymandering of voting districts, and a political structure that mostly prevents voters from ever having real choices to make within their own parties.
The Guadagno story is a back-burner subject because it's Guadagno, and because far too many people in, around and outside of politics will have you believe that this is all "how the game is played," that it's something we should all blindly and passively accept as the reality of New Jersey politics.
Don't believe that. Hypocrisy may be rampant, but it doesn't have to be inevitable.