Not all comebacks warrant applause
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
Our region was "treated" to a pair of comebacks recently, one questionable, the other unconscionable.

When Buffalo heavyweight Joe Mesi flattened 40-year-old George Linberger in under two minutes last week, it was one more step in an interrupted personal dream shared by sincere well-wishers who have embraced the personable pugilist as the region's own personal Rocky Balboa.

There was another return that became public last week as well, which was one more step in an intrepid nightmare, inflicted on but certainly not embraced by a beleaguered populace, many of whom would revel in treating many of our leader's actions like Sylvester Stallone does a hanging side of frozen beef.

In case you missed it, right on the heels of one of the better ideas county leaders have cooked up in a bit, came the news that former County Budget Director Joseph Passafiume is once again collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck.

While most people when they retire spend time, say, helping out in a soup kitchen or joining a knitting circle or answering the phone for their favorite local charity, Passafiume couldn't resist the lure of dabbling in the county's finances once again. That was OK, since for a while, it was enough that he volunteered his time to do just that.

So invaluable were his contributions, however, that Joel Giambra decided to reward his former budget director with a personal services contract, at 50 smackers per hour, doing so only after an end-run around the control board's - ahem - control.

Apparently, his tax-free state pension of roughly $80,000, which he began to collect at age 55 (not to mention his county-paid health insurance coverage), was simply not adequate to fill the days of tedium from which Passafiume suffered.

His return to the financial ring was an unfortunate counterjab to the fact that every once in a while, even a tomato can land a lucky punch. To be sure, there are plenty of relevant questions that need to be asked, but the recent idea of Erie County selling its outstanding tax liens to a New Jersey company has enough positive potential that the control board shouldn't be throwing in the towel during the prefight introductions, as at least some of them seemed to be doing with their initial reactions to the concept.

Even in strong financial times, getting government out of the debt collection business is a good idea. Let the private sector make the calls, pay employee salaries and dole out the benefits, as long as there is no financial liability to the county. In this case, the collection company pays 105 percent up front on the value of outstanding tax liens. All the county does is deposit the annual payment and say thank you very much.

Such an idea, floated again by Erie County's leaders last week, is hardly perfect, and control board members are right when they say much of the deal represents a one-shot revenue that may cause more financial pain down the road. However, not all one-shots are imaginary watering holes amidst the dust and desperation of a barren financial landscape. Properly budgeted and accounted for and verifying that future projections are realistic and not some politically propped up pipe dream (that's exactly where the control board can best fulfill its intended role in this particular case), they can be useful tools.

In short, even when the occasional good idea slips through the authority's rope-a-dope defense, just when you almost let yourself believe that our leaders have taken enough knocks to the noodle to finally get it, just when it appears religion might have finally reappeared at the Rath Building, we quickly find out that common sense has again been sent down for the count.

And by the way, it's not supposed to be a fair fight. The authority's punches have mostly been deserved, brought on by a political plan that has dragged down our region for decades. Given the county's history, the control board's reluctance to let its collective guard sag for even a second, good idea or not, is probably Solomonesque.

For as both Mesi and Passafiume have shown in the past, doing so can be a dangerous thing. Neither is a regular Joe. There are some comebacks we can root for. And some we can't.

(Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)