The current billion-dollar election cycle has once again defined
political clout as it does every four years. Political clout boils
down to two essentials, votes and money. Votes are votes but money
is fungible, which means we can easily exchange it for something
else; in politics, the
”
something else
”
is also votes.
The current billion-dollar election cycle has once again defined political clout as it does every four years. Political clout boils down to two essentials, votes and money. Votes are votes but money is fungible, which means we can easily exchange it for something else; in politics, the “something else” is also votes.
My automatic grammar checker keeps telling me to replace the word ‘clout’ with the word “influence,” but I like the word clout better, it has some pop to it. Influence fits when you’re describing major lobbyists and $500 lunches in Washington, D.C.; out here in the San Benito County, clout is a much better word.
Sidebar: Yes, I have a grammar checker, how else would I possibly know that I’ve split an infinitive, whatever the heck that is? I keep it turned on just so I can tell it to ignore my colloquial style. Now, back to clout.
Regrettably, San Benito County doesn’t have a lot of votes or money that would give it political clout, which means that we don’t get the benefits the folks with clout enjoy. Those benefits are usually financial; if you have clout, the dollars come flowing your way.
I’m against excessive government spending, but if it’s happening, I want my share. My theory is that the money shrinks every time it goes through another layer of bureaucracy. Every director, board member, secretary, accountant, auditor and planner has to be paid. Therefore, what comes out is always less than went in. However, there is some justification for collecting and disbursing funds on a centralized basis; if we did not, it might be impossible for small places like San Benito County and Hollister to put together enough money to fund expensive projects. Much of the centralized money comes in the form of grants.
Federal grants are not a benefits or entitlements nor are they loans to individuals. They are awards of financial assistance to carry out a public purpose. The 26 federal agencies offer over 1,000 grant programs annually in various categories. They come in different forms; block grants, formula grants, project grants and cooperative agreements.
In FY 2006, the federal government distributed over $400 billion worth of grant awards. As the saying goes, honey draws flies – over 1 million organizations were chasing those funds. I wish I knew how much had to go into the system to get $400 billion out of it.
In a perfect world, grants would be distributed without regard for political clout, but it’s not a perfect world. Part of the problem is the way the system is set up, in some cases the grants are restricted to certain kinds of research, in others the government has a good idea of where the grant is going when they define it. Finally, for those grants that are widely competitive, much depends on just how well the application is written and that has become a big business. You may have to hire people to write grant applications to have a good chance of winning and those people are often former government employees; get the picture?
Since it’s all about money the bottom line is, how did we do? The answer is not so good. According to the federal funds report, San Benito County received $41.4 million in federal grants in FY 2006. If you divide that by the estimated population of 55,842 to equalize the amount, it comes to $742 per capita. For county comparison, Monterey captured $1,100 per capita; Santa Clara, $1,357; Fresno, $1,430; Santa Cruz, $1,672; Merced, $1,708 and San Francisco, $3,664.
San Benito County received 32 percent less per resident than Monterey, about half as much as Fresno and only one-fifth of what was received in San Francisco. If you ever want to know where we stand with clout, just pull out this column and review those numbers. When it comes to politics, the words of the great Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child” apply – “Them that’s got shall get.”
