Appointing unqualified friends to high places

From A Walk in the Park:

Larry Scott Blackmon, a 35-year-old political operative whose recent employment included two consecutive stints in Bloomberg's re-election campaigns, has landed a choice job in the green empire. Bloomberg appointed him to serve as a Deputy Parks Commissioner making $169,560 a year according to the NY Post — thirty three thousand dollars less than Parks Commissioner Benepe. The DPR announced internally last week that he will be working with long-time Assistant Parks Commissioner Jack T. Linn on community outreach. Mr. Linn, who has decades of experience in the agency will be making thirty grand less than Mr. Blackmon. It pays to be connected.

A Walk in the Park could find no relevant career experience in the world of public parks for Mr. Blackmon, who reportedly specializes in African-American outreach. However he was mentioned in the NY Times earlier this year for his antics during the Bloomberg campaign which left one Harlem State Assemblymember "a bit startled," according to the paper.

Mr. Blackmon was dispatched to Albany to sway Keith L. T. Wright into supporting Bloomberg.

According to the account, Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright, a Harlem lawmaker, long ago pledged to support a fellow African-American, William C. Thompson Jr., in the mayoral election. But that did not stop two aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from traveling 150 miles from Manhattan to Albany to seek Mr. Wright’s endorsement for the mayor a few weeks ago.