Editorial

A model Bronx politician

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After 27 years as at best a mediocre district attorney, Robert Johnson’s career at the post is ending not with a bang but a self-serving whimper.

“Number one, do what’s best for you. And number two, don’t resign from a job without a job,” he told fellow Bronx Democrats gathered at a Sept. 24 convention to nominate him for a judgeship and anoint Darcel Clark as his successor.

Just as astonishing as Mr. Johnson’s totally self-centered approach to public office was the loud clapping and strong praise other elected officials heaped on him.

“This is a man who has excelled in every one of the capacities he’s lived up to,” said Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, head of the Bronx Democratic County Committee, trying to warp Mr. Johnson’s record of long trial delays and a low conviction rate into a good thing. “And while there are those that want to point to certain rates, I will tell you I respect him even more for the fact this is a man who wouldn’t let the usual measurement of success in his profession dictate the way he treated the men and women of his community.”

Two tenets of the Bronx political establishment’s philosophy of public service have emerged from the politicians’ oblivious applause and chummy quotes: results don’t matter, and do what’s best for you. (The outgoing DA’s cogent words cannot be improved upon.)

Consider how Bronx pols could apply that doctrine to recent developments in the borough.

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Robert Johnson, Darcel Clark, Marcos Crespo
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