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Friday, March 12, 2010

Corruption is hard to measure

Here’s the other question about the report released by the Office of the Inspector General yesterday, and really about the city’s corruption fighting efforts in general: How is the city measuring success in this arena? It’s a bit of a conundrum, if you think about it. In its report, the OIG is essentially saying, “look at all this corruption we’ve uncovered; we’re doing well!” And it might be. But the implication there is that the more corruption that’s uncovered, the better the city is doing – and that’s not necessarily true in the big picture.

Consider the police. They don’t measure success on arrests alone. Instead, they look at the crime rate, because the goal isn’t just to arrest a lot of people; it’s for crime to go down.

Now, the analogy breaks down here, because unlike with crime, where you often have victims to report incidents (and, sometimes, bodies to count), corruption is generally only discovered when the OIG (or the police, the district attorney, controller or media) roots it out.

But it still raises an important question for the city about outcome measurement. What you don’t want is for your corruption-catching numbers to keep going up in perpetuity. At some point, you want everyone to get the message, or get scared, or get caught, and for corruption to fall to its minimum realistic level. But what’s that point? What’s that level? How will the city know when it gets there? Can it set some goals, make some projections? We don’t know, but maybe the mayor, or someone who works for him, can figure it out.

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Posted by Doron Taussig @ 8:55 AM  Permalink | 5 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:44 AM, 03/12/2010
    Saddly...corruptions starts with our "One Term Mayor". Our ONE TERM Mayor...you remember..."The Reformer"... the one who's played the "I'm Angry" song (AND US) one too many times...that guy who walk at the head of sooo many Police Furnerals...right...that guy who now has $1.4 Million in his Re-Election War Chest...yep, that's the guy! He's the same one who's been told, in writing, with evidence, for 2 YEARS now about Rendell oversaturating "Killadelphia" with over 9,000 CONVICTED MURDERERS, RAPISTS, ARMED ROBBERS, SHOOT-OUT ARTISTS, DRUG DEALERS... EVEN A SERIAL KILLER, etc. Think about it...the bottomline in the INQUIRER series on Courts, Bail, Witness Intimidation and Guns is STATE PAROLEES! Nutter was also told that STATE PAROLEES haven't been sent back to prison for Parole Violations since 2003! "Killadelphia" has 1/6th the population of New York City, BUT 6 TIMES THE CRIME! Why? STATE PAROLEES and Rendell saving $39,000 per inmate per year for "No Bid and Inappropriate Contracts" to champaign contributors, etc. Rendell collects $250,000 from his law firm each year and the law firm bills the Commonwealth for over $3 MILLION! The total contract bills total well over $63 MILLION! Who pays? WE DO in blood and destroyed families! Nutter says we should "Step Up"...well, Your Honor...you need to "Step Off"!
    — John Law
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:22 AM, 03/12/2010
    Interesting thought, Mr. Taussig. While we laud the efforts of the IG, we do need to be aware that the culture of corruption and entitlement that pervades City politics is so extensive that my DOG could probably find that much corruption. The real key will be changing that inculcated attitude, the one that says it's OK to appoint your daughter as your assistant, take DROP payments and then return to work, influence property assessments for political reasons, and sleep at your City desk instead of working. While I don't like the idea of "Big Brother" watching at all times, it is obvious that most City workers need that sort of juvenile supervision - so I do hope that there is additional money for the IG in the new budget. The only way to turn around the complacency of these leeches is to continue to chase them and kick them out when they're caught; eventually the idea that City employment is not a free ride will get around.
    — citylumberjack
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:57 AM, 03/12/2010
    Kids, if the city is owed $1 billion in forfeit bail because the OCQS hasn't collected it; if the city is owed $500 million in overdue property taxes because the axis of agencies responsible for collection is not working, that is according to legal doctrine res ipsa loquitur negligence. You don't need to have case controls, and a progressive study, but if you did, you'd find the same thing. Case controls in other counties, counties with fewer employees tasked with that responsibility, with a smaller budget, do much better, get 90% or more of debt owed, compared to Philly which deserves an "F."
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:06 AM, 03/12/2010
    Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself. The press here has been afflicted with a deplorable lack of curiosity, except for the ones going out and covering these scandals and winning prizes. The courts coverage - prize and state level change. BRT coverage - court ordered terminations and restructuring proposal and legislation. Thank God McCoy, Phillips, Kerkstra, Fazlollah, and the City IG are doing that hard work finally. $3.4 million in UNCASHED CHECKS for wage taxes. That's the Dept. of Revenue. When was the last time you guys made any inquiries into the Dept. of Revenue, like what was the result of what should be an annual audit by the City Controller of that office? The corruption in Philly is LEGENDARY. People can't even understand legit normal practices, they are that wholly unfamiliar with ethical public service, like Waziristan warlords. The day of lowering corruption numbers due to actual lowered corruption is an arcane exercise in future guessing, because that day might not come in your lifetime. Your lifetime, not mine. Instead of wondering how many angels can fit on the head of a pin, why not ask WHY the city has a debt of $500 million in overdue property taxes owed it, for a start? Win a prize folks. Low hanging fruit.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:07 AM, 03/12/2010
    Ask instead why we are having a property tax amnesty when the city isn't collecting property taxes now.
    — CleanupPhilly


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