Definition and History of...

Political patronage

Be sure to pick up a copy of the Lake Worth Herald tomorrow. There will be another story on Annabeth Karson and her assistant heading up the City's Complete Count Committee for the U.S. Census. Both are being paid $15K as part-time employees of the City and both worked on Jo Ann Golden's and Laurence McNamara's campaigns. The suggestion to enlist the services of Ms. Karson and Ms. Coolican was made by Commissioner Golden and consummated by City Manager Stanton.

It is not about whether or not these two appointees will do a good job. The issues surrounding this revolve around their on-going work in local political campaigns and being paid to collect data that may be used in future local political campaigns. We need not look any further for an example of the existence of Old School Machine politics in our city.

What has it done for us lately?