Another NYTimes piece, about politicians visiting the New York state legislature from the developing democracy in Ghana, who are trying to learn a thing or two, illustrates how far American representative politics have devolved. Followers of our state political scene will recognize certain behaviors. Excerpts:
“We were amused by the word ‘lobbyist,’ ” said Moses Asaga, a ranking member of Ghana’s Parliament. “This lobbyist can just walk around and they get money,” he said, laughing.
It was not the only surprise for the delegation visiting the capital city for what was billed as a firsthand look at American democracy in action. Specifically, they were on a mission to understand how the budget process works in the United States.
But in visiting Albany, they were studying a world where individual lawmakers have a minimal effect on budget issues, deferring instead to three men who argue behind closed doors and then explain to the representatives how to vote. Indeed, several things about the workings of Albany mystified the group.
“We have a definite time when the budget must be passed,” said Eugene Agyepong, chairman of the Finance Committee in Ghana’s Parliament. With Albany’s budget late for the 20th consecutive year, and New York the only state in the nation with such an unblemished record, Mr. Agyepong could be forgiven for finding the situation a bit hard to understand.
“If we do not have a budget, the government shuts down,” he said.
Mr. Agyepong said that the hardest thing to understand, in some ways, was just where all the money was going, particularly the funds dealing with domestic security. While West Africa in general is not a place where there are functioning governments, much less governments operating in a way the public can scrutinize, the delegation found New York’s budget “opaque.”
“Here we have to ask a lot of questions,” Mr. Agyepong said. “You just really don’t know how each allocation is spent. That is quite bleak.”
In Albany, the same triumvirate has been in power for more than a decade: the governor, George E. Pataki; the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver; and the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno. During that time they have consolidated their power to such a degree that little is done without their express permission.
“We don’t have powers concentrated to such a degree at the highest level,” Mr. Asaga said. “We find this a little bit strange. We expected more debate, more opinions.”
Members of the delegation, unfailingly polite, were no less surprised at the business being conducted.
“They would introduce some baseball team to the speaker,” Mr. Asaga said. “Someone introduced his son.”
Not sure whether this was time well spent in conducting the business of the state, Mr. Asaga said that back in Ghana such antics would have drawn condemnation.
“They would have said, “What does this have to do with anything?’ “
