It's Really Complex, You Know

You have to laugh at the explanation given by Mayor Mike on the CityTime scandal: "DP has the story: "Nobody understood how complex it was, how many different contracts the city has and pay grades and practices and to put it all in one system is just enormous. Having said that, it’s the only way the city is going to be able to keep control of all of its expenses,” he said on WOR radio this morning."

Well, perhaps nobody knew, but somebody should-and the mayor isn't just anybody, get it? But Bloomberg is still trying to put lipstick on this rotting pig: "It’s saving an enormous amount of money for the agencies that are on it,” he said, noting a third of city employees are on the system. But why, radio host John Gambling asked, did the pricetag balloon millions over budget? Bloomberg suggested the high-tech ones generally do. “Part of it was they just kept adding things that made sense to do… Part of it was just not finding out until you get into it how complex it was,” he said. “Every big software project that I know, like the air-traffic controller system… These projects are so big, so complex, maybe you can’t do projects this big, but this one we need desperately.”

If this was such a complex necessity, why didn't the mayor do a better job vetting the people in charge? Reports indicate that he never interviewed Bunko Bondy, the guy who supervised this crew of thieves-and nowhere in the Gambling show on WOR do we ever hear the word, "I."

It's as if this was all a result of spontaneous generation: "He explained that because the project was subcontracted, it was difficult to keep tabs on every thing over time, calling the scam the poster child for how things fall through the cracks.“You can’t look everyplace. I’m not trying to excuse it. It is something we certainly should focus on. On the other hand, if you want to know how big projects have big things that slip through the cracks, this is as good an example as you need,” he said."

Mayor's culpability? Zero-and he goes on to compare this disaster to problems you might have in your family: "Nothing goes without some problems, whether it is in your family, your company, your government, the world. On balance, New York City is relatively corruption- and crime-free.”

To which we add: "Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"