What garbage!
In a twist on the City Council’s much-maligned practice of including lawmakers’ names on taxpayer-funded public trash cans, one politician actually promoted himself on the steel bins by making sure his name and title appeared — after he left office.
Former Councilman Michael McMahon (D-SI) spent $24,000 in city funds on 46 bright green bins bearing his name in July 2008, while he was a member of the council and a front-runner to fill an open seat in Congress.
But after he won the congressional election that November, the then-outgoing city lawmaker had the Sanitation Department revise labels on the baskets to read, “Sponsored By Former Council Member Michael E. McMahon.”
Adding former to a council member’s title on a trash can is a first, according to department spokesman Vito Turso.
“It’s a trashy move!” exclaimed Dick Dadey, head of the government watchdog group Citizens Union. “It’s self-promotion at its worst.
“Not only is it inappropriate in the first place, it’s unethical to take credit for something in the past. It’s unethical to use a former elected post to promote yourself currently.”
Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, said McMahon’s purchase exemplifies why council members should not have discretionary accounts, commonly referred to as “pork” or “member items.”
“The inability of politicians to resist self-promotion is so glaringly obvious,” she said.
McMahon did not return a call seeking comment.