Editorial writer Ines Aizpun of Diario Libre writes today to protest the distribution of government funds by legislators to select constituents over Easter so that these lucky people had the means to whip up the traditional Easter desert of habichuela con dulce.
Azipun asks: is that not corruption? Or what Abel Martinez [the president of the Chamber of Deputies] calls ‘redistribution of economic growth’.
“Over years, more and more power has been concentrated in the hands of legislators of the different parties that have been at the helm of the legislative bodies and who believe that this sort of political patronage is simply how politics works in this country. It is bordering on the absurd. Even something as traditional as an Easter dessert has fallen victim to political patronage.
“Hand outs are THE strategy”, Aizpun exclaims. Political patronage is the structure that characterizes the state. It is not an ideological or a party problem. (Is it rejected by the opposition?) The deputies do not even feel they are being referred to when the pork barrel funds are mentioned, because “that is senator stuff.” But regardless of the name, the concept, the moment, the excuse. political patronage is no longer a matter of anecdotes, nor of the campaign every four years. Political patronage frames the work and personal lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens who win or lose their way of life when a politician arbitrarily either gives them a job or removes them from a government post.
“The political class has excessive power because the traditional ways that citizens can monitor if politicians are fulfilling their duties no longer function and politicians simply create their own corrupt and disenfranchising rules. .
“Sweet beans in Easter, filled shopping bags in Christmas, Mother’s Day perks, back to school perks in August. Politicians believe they can decide on the use of public money at will because they are doing so without fear of retribution. That is why these legislators now wish to shut the door completely, by making sure that citizens cannot sue them (In their words: “So many fools loose.)”
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2014/04/24/i579891_redistribucina.html