Blog: Reflections of a City Attorney (Part 1)

Preface: This series of articles, detailing reflections from over the years, will appear over the next two weeks. There was not always a convenient point to break these up. Some may be shorter than others. There were many more things I wanted to say, but this was not the time nor was there the space to do that now. Hopefully, you will still find them interesting. I welcome any feedback.

PART 1. Introduction.

I on Dec. 31, 2011, after almost 34 years of service to the city. More than a year before my actual retirement I began thinking about my retirement. Foremost on my mind was a concern that I had for the viability of cities, like Albany, to weather the financial and political storm that has roiled up over the last five or more years.

In the spring of 2010, in anticipation of my retirement, I shared some of my thoughts with my fellow California city attorneys on our listserve forum. This series of short articles is an expansion of what I wrote to them.

I had never imagined I would end my career during such turmoil and uncertainty about the future of our governmental institutions. Our American governmental institutions are under siege. I think all Americans should be concerned about the current events and our prospects for the future of America.

Even though most city attorneys and other local government employees are earning good salaries and may feel somewhat secure, many now believe that their children and grandchildren may have lower standards of living and less opportunities than we had.

I suspect this reflects the feelings of those who considered themselves part of the great American middle class. Many more families today have children who have amassed enormous debt to go to college or to graduate schools. How many families are now more worried about whether they will have the economic resources to live in dignity until we die? How many cities are seeing communities under greater financial and social stress?

The general sense of uncertainty and concern is being felt nationwide, across the entire middle and working class strata of our country. I believe the national political and economic state of affairs bodes badly for all levels of government. Albany will have its fair share of challenges.

I also believe we can gain an appreciation about the importance of government by taking a closer look at how little old Albany works. I hope this series of article will enhance an appreciation for our governmental institutions, especially today when so many politicians speak so negatively and derisively about the role of government in our society.

When I was in 1978, the political and economic landscape was vastly different. To be sure, in 1978 few would have ever predicted that, 34 years later, middle and working class Americans would be financially less well off and more anxious about their futures.

Since about 1980, wages and income for the middle class have been flat. Income for very wealthy Americans has dramatically increased. CEO salaries around 1980 used to be about 50 time greater than the average salary of a worker. Today CEO salaries range from 300 to 500 times greater than the average salary of a worker.

The disparity of income between different strata in our society 1978 has been distorted to levels greater than what was seen in the Gilded Age and before the Great Depression.

The minimum wage, if adjusted for inflation, is actually lower today than it was in 1978. Hedge Fund executives earn $100 million and billion-dollar salaries. Just imagine. If an Hedge Fund manager has an income of a billion dollars and works 2000 hours a year, he/she would be earning $500,000 an hour.  

Mitt Romney, who actually does not work at a real job today, earns in the neighborhood of $20 million a year from his past work for Bain. If he worked 2000 hours a year, his hourly wage would be $10,000 an hour. While the middle class people are in a 20- to 25 percent tax bracket, the billionaires and millionaires, because of manipulations of tax regulations are paying about 15 percent.

It seems as if we ran off course as a society. To put this into my historical context, I would first like to share some of my recollections of events as I was growing up.

Part 2 will include a look back at America in the 1950s and 1960s.