How do you spell P-A-R-T-Y?
If you are a New York politician, you spell it C-O-N-F-E-R-E-N-C-E. As in “the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators 42nd Annual Legislative Conference and Concert” — which began Friday and runs through tonight.
The official conference schedule on the association’s Web site notes that in addition to various receptions and a concert featuring Grammy Award winner Faith Evans, there are two gala dances.
But The Post last Sunday reported one key item conveniently absent from the official program: The festivities will be underwritten in part with $12,000 from New York City’s taxpayers.
The obvious question is: Why?
The official story is that the “conference” is a bipartisan endeavor designed to explore various issues of agreement among the members.
Blah, blah, blah.
The reality is that this is a partisan bash. After all, the association sponsoring it — like the City Council itself — is primarily made up of Democrats.
Even so, a spokesman for Council Speaker Chris Quinn defended this use of taxpayer dollars on the curious grounds that “this is an event that’s been going on for years.”
But this is an argument against rather than for. Just because politicians have been spending taxpayer dollars on dubious items before is no argument for keeping it going today.
Maybe there was once a day when $12,000 could be defended as a small luxury perk for politicians. But in a tough economy, when ordinary families are struggling to make ends meet, they have a right to expect their political leaders to set a better example.
Queens Councilman Dan Halloran had it exactly right when he told The Post he didn’t see how legislators can justify spending this money “when each year in our budget battles we’re fighting about firehouse and library closures.”
Now, there’s nothing wrong with a group of legislators coming together for a conference if they want to. The same for a party.
But there’s no reason the taxpayers should be forced to subsidize it. A message from the Association’s chairman, State Assemblyman Nick Perry, reminds members that part of this year’s theme is, “It’s a Hard Road to a Better Place.”
He’s got that right.
If the conference events are as valuable and entertaining as the program promises, legislators should have no problem reaching into their own pockets to pay for it.