I agree with this assessment. Likewise, the mayor is pandering to conservative, upstate New York voters with the museum funding. When the issue over the art exhibit became public, he was in California appealing to conservatives for contributions for his Senate race. Public policy is inherently substantive and symbolic. Purely symbolic policy is, however, costly and leads to a further erosion of confidence in government.
Voting provides the public with a check on such behavior at election time.
New York voters would do well to remember the actions of the Clintons and Giuliani when voting in next year's Senate race. I think not. Click here and join the discussion in the Reginald Shareef folder. Reginald Shareef Reginald Shareef is a professor in the Political Science Department at Radford University with a speciality in Public Administration, Leadership and Organization Change. He has long been involved in public policy issues in Roanoke that range from public schools to urban renewal.