Can a Liberal Mayor Be Financially Responsible?

http://www.thenation.com/article/180293/can-liberal-mayor-be-financially-responsible



The simplest path to a career in the punditocracy is via the trick of pretend contrarianism. I say “pretend” because it’s really a political game of mirrors. The idea is to appear contrarian while simultaneously embracing an established media narrative. The crucial line to walk is allowing oneself to go beyond available evidence while at the same time confirming the unspoken prejudice of media and political insiders. When it comes to economic issues, this is rarely a challenge, as few journalists got beyond Econ 101 in college. Most simply repeat our conservative conventional wisdom, which demonizes progressive tax rates, government services and, most of all, unions.

Nicole Gelinas, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, may be a cautionary tale in this category. She recently rocketed from near-total obscurity to local media stardom on the basis of her “sky is falling” analysis of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deal with the teachers union and its alleged implications for the city’s budget and fiscal future—only to be discredited just as quickly when contrary evidence inconveniently showed up.

Gelinas, who boasts a BA in English literature (and no graduate degrees), managed to tally up an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (with Fred Siegel) titled “Taking New York Back to the Bad Old Days” and another in City & State called “De Blasio’s Fiscal Bubble.” She was quoted in The New York Times calling the deal “troublesome and unprecedented,” and in Politico’s “Capital Journal” calling it irresponsible. She has also appeared as a solo guest on WNYC in a lengthy interview with veteran host Brian Lehrer, where she opined about de Blasio: “The bottom line is, these are his deficits that he has created.”

The “return to the bad old days/giving away the store to the unions” meme was a feature of the mayoral election campaign, whispered by aides of the outgoing mayor, Michael Bloomberg (who failed to come to terms with the teachers union for nearly the last five years of his twelve-year reign), and, of course, Republican candidate Joe Lhota, whom de Blasio defeated by almost a fifty-point margin. It has been repeated ad infinitum by conservative pundits and Republican politicians who drop in to the city regularly to raise money. It keeps smacking its head against reality but somehow continues on, bloodied but unbowed.