posted on August 2nd, 2010
It’s been a while since I’ve posted; having a baby has been awesome, but being a dad and having a full-time job leaves me without much desire to spend more time than necessary staring at glowing rectangles. So what issue can bust me out of my torpor? The iPhone “you’re holding it wrong” debacle? The BP Oil Spill? Nope. The hubbub over the Delaware River Port Authority’s Mike Joyce giving a free EZPASS to his daughter.
There may be many things wrong at DRPA, and by all accounts there are, but this isn’t one of them. Getting a free EZPASS (actually 100 free DRPA-run bridge crossings, by the way) when you work for DRPA is a perquisite akin to taking home free food when you work at a restaurant - if you have permission, it is absolutely fine. This is a privilege frequently extended even to minimum wage workers at fast-food restaurants, and nobody begrudges the cashier at MacDonald’s taking home an Extra Value Meal at the end of her shift. Just as MacDonald’s sells hamburgers, DRPA “sells” bridge crossings from Pennsylvania to New Jersey; why wouldn’t an employee of DRPA expect an employee discount? Especially when the marginal cost to the company to provide that perk is next to nothing? Are we next going to be up in arms over free transpasses for SEPTA employees?
Of course, the minor twist on the issue is that Joyce didn’t just enjoy a free EZPASS himself, he brought home a second one for his daughter. That MacDonald’s cashier might be entitled to one Extra Value Meal at the end of her shift, but if she routinely takes two, it is theft, surely! Actually, no, Joyce borrowed the EZPASS from John Lawless, a co-worker at DRPA. I actually have no problem with this; as an employee of a DRPA, Mr. Lawless has the right to get the full value of his compensation, including perks that he doesn’t have a use for. If the fry-machine guy wanted to give his free meal to that cashier, few of us would object, because it’s his hamburger to do with as he pleases. But, DRPA didn’t see it that way, and docked Joyce almost $2500 plus $600 to reimburse for the EZPASS charges. One might think that was punishment enough, but the public outcry has led to Joyce’s resignation.
You may feel that Joyce’s actions were reasonable, or you may feel that they stepped over the line, or you may even feel that a person making $180,000 per year isn’t entitled to any other perks, but I don’t think it is reasonable to feel that this is an abuse of the public trust, or an abuse of authority, or really anything to which the word “abuse” can be applied. So when normally sane interviewers like Marty Moss-Coane of WHYY dip into extraordinary hyperbole by asking the DRPA Chairman of the Board how it could possibly happen that a person could think such behavior permissible, it’s gotten a little out of hand. Let’s deal with the actual problems of DRPA, not the ridiculous non-problems.
This rant filed under: Political
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