Carla Palumbo discusses the decision by County Democrats not to appoint someone to the Zyra Sham Committee nominating the new Public Defender. I agree with her completely, both that you normally need to stay engaged to get things done, and that you sometimes need to disengage completely and let the jerks take their own fall. In our inordinately majoritarian County Legislature, there is little else the Democrats can do:

» Democrats Decline to Support the Public Defender Sham Committee » Carla Palumbo

Though normally I would say you need to be at the table to “keep ‘em honest” sometimes you need to step away from the table to not give them “cover”. Having ONE community person on the committee comprised of Legislature appointees will not bring the independence to the process that was SO important in 1974 and in 1977.