file photo by Boyd Loving
The 800lb gorilla in the room is nepotism. Let me explain.
Government, and particularly local government, bears no resemblance to the private sector in many ways. We could go on about these differences but let’s just focus on how jobs are filled. Sure, there’s an element of nepotism in the private sector, but local government is almost all about political favors and basically who-you-know. Ever sent your resume in for a government job without any insider connections? You didn’t get so much as an interview, right?
Now the big problem with this kind of hiring practice is what do you do when that person screws up, or worse still, gets caught with their snout in the trough. In a lot of cases, things tend to get smoothed over and nothing gets done. In extreme cases (particularly when the issue becomes public knowledge), it becomes necessary to fire (and possibly prosecute) that person. This becomes really awkward being that the person is still well connected.
I’m not suggesting that this coin-theft guy was was one of these connected guys, but just pointing out the inherent problem of hiring people based upon the friends and family plan.
