yes Howie said that whle LaLanne was in previous death pools, not in this last one
Wed column ping
Non-essential? How about non-employed
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, January 26, 2011 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Have you noticed that the hacks don’t use the word “non-essential” to describe themselves anymore? It was just a little too descriptive.
I mean, when the governor calls a press conference at the bunker and describes a vast number of his tax-fattened minions as “non-essential” and says they don’t have to come in to “work,” then people with real jobs are likely to conclude that said state employees are . . . not essential.
So sometime either late this afternoon or early tomorrow morning, we may be hearing on the radio or TV that the state’s “non-emergency” workforce is being given yet another day off.
A day off with pay, needless to say.
But the paper-shufflers are no longer “non-essential.” They’re just “non-emergency.”
This is one of the many ways life in the Dreaded Private Sector (DPS) is different than in the hackerama. State workers take an average of 15 “sick days” a year; those in the DPS, five. Hacks get pensions, the rest of us don’t. They get Bunker Hill Day off and we don’t.
And most importantly, in the DPS, there is a different word to describe someone who is “non-essential.” The word is expendable, the synonym for which is, “You’re fired.”
The state is currently facing a deficit of $2 billion. Is that an “emergency”?
Of course, it’s business as usual up at the State House. This afternoon, the unqualified wife of a despicable state rep named Garrett Bradley will most likely be confirmed as a judge. This outrage occurs two days after a newly unemployed Republican ex-state rep was hired after a nationwide search by a Republican sheriff to fill a position that had been vacant for two years. One of the lame explanations offered for the hiring was that another guy had just left the office. A guy who was making $57,000.
And now the ex-solon rep gets $110,000 a year.
I’m sure, though, that Jeff Perry is “essential.” He must be, because his title is “special sheriff.”
They can’t keep giving six-figure jobs to every one of their unemployable friends and relatives. Sooner or later some pink slips will have to start flying. So I have a suggestion.
Tomorrow, if indeed the “non-emergency” state workers are loafing at home, every agency boss should make a list of who came in and who didn’t. If you’re a hack and you don’t show up for work, you will be considered non-essential, er, non-emergency. You will be fired.
How do you think Speaker DeLeo will like my plan? It means almost every single layabout slug he’s related to will be unemployed.
Now that would be a real emergency, at least for Mistah Speakah.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1312040