From a political piece I wrote for the Buffalo Spree:

The problems that plague this region are well established, and while not unique, our unwillingness or inability to rectify them in a meaningful way is. When you get down to it, our politics locally has practically nothing to do with partisan party politics. Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame. The change we need has to start with one very basic tenet—elect and hire the best. Instead, our political figures make decisions based on connections rather than merit. They bank on the fact that the people may grumble but won’t really be able to do much about it. When making multimillion dollar decisions affecting a million people, what you know is far more critical than whom you know, but in politics common sense like this does not apply. Crucial decisions are routinely based solely on patronage and power relationships.