The cynical, self-serving, bloated nature of our region’s political class almost serves as a case study for Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology Of Fascism ,Aeia work in which Reich claims that anyone who aspires to political power is by the nature of that aspiration morally suspect and that politics is an irrational social expression of illness.
The toxic nature of our political class, exacerbated by inflated size of that group makes it remarkably difficult to believe,Aeibelieve that anyone in government or any political player will/can play any role whatsoever in the region’s turnaround.
Luckily, thankfully, there are exceptions.
Many of the initiatives of the Brown Administration give us hope. Satish Mohan has brought to Amherst government a mandate for reform. And the latest project of Kevin Gaughan’s is, we firmly believe, the beginning of a real change in the politics of our region.
Kevin’s currency is ideas. Not only is he good at coming up with them, he believes fundamentally in their ability to effect change. And his latest idea is TheCost.org.
For ten years, we’ve known that the size and cost of local government impairs this regions economic growth. But widespread acknowledgment that the over-inflated size of our political classes holds us back has yet to lead to an effective strategy to fix the problem.
So this past spring, Gaughan asked himself two questions:
- Why did the decade-long, citizen-led movement to reform local government in Buffalo Niagara fail?
- And what needs to be done to breathe new life into the effort?
His answer, his idea is a very simple one: sharpen citizen’s assessment of local government by giving them information they’ve never before possessed: the cost of paying politicians.
And so, over the past 5 months, with a team of student researchers provided by the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, Gaughan has produced a comprehensive analysis of how much it costs Erie County taxpayers to maintain the 439 elected officials who serve residents on the village, town, city, county, state, and federal level. Gaughan’s team has uncovered the aggregate annual cost of salaries, health care, and pension benefits for each politician and their immediate staff.
Very simply, Gaughan and his team have uncovered The Cost.
He’s holding a public meeting tomorrow to reveal his findings–and they’re staggering. Gaughan’s analysis makes profoundly clear how heavy an anchor the size and cost of local government is tied around the ankles of our regions economic growth.
But the analysis, TheCost.org, is only a part of Gaughan’s idea. He has quantified and qualified the cost of bloated political class, provided an understanding of the sacrifices required to sustain it and come up with a proposed solution.
Tomorrow at 6PM at Hallwalls at The Church, Gaughan will unveil his findings. Those genuinely interested in supporting and helping effect change in our regions governance really need to attend,Aeito learn more about Gaughan’s findings and applaud his and his team’s remarkable effort.
Wednesday, October 25 at 6PM
Hallwalls at the Church
341 Delaware Avenue