Perks of office
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently was criticized for spending $54,000 a year of government money on Cuban cigars for himself and his guests.
It’s easy to demean people in public office for self-indulgence. Politicians are accused of spending too much on travel, on entertainment, or on taking frequent holidays. Poor Andrew Thompson was badgered into quitting the Senate because he thought it was more important to oversee construction of his winter home in Mexico.
What is it that induces a person to seek public office? The salary? The pension? The security of tenure? The glow one gets from serving your fellow earth occupants? Or is it the perks, the fame that comes from being elected by a majority of constituents and travelling to parley in Parliament, not to mention the privilege of getting your hair cut by the same barber as Lloyd Axworthy?
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Members of Parliament are fair game since they depend on votes to keep them in office. They have to buy tickets from every gap-toothed kid on every street corner in their constituency. They have to eat fried chicken until their stomachs rumble at the sight of it.
They have to think up disarming answers to unanswerable questions from reporters. They have to explain why it is necessary to spend Monday night to Friday morning in Ottawa even when Jeanie’s birthday is on Wednesday. However, I don’t hold a lot of sympathy for Netanyahu. Anybody who smokes cigars and encourages others to do so at public expense leaves an odoriferous image of his public service.
