How would he reform hiring practices to do away with patronage?
“There’s always going to be patronage, no matter what anybody says. To me, patronage is a pig in a can, really. It’s not always what it’s cracked up to be, but when there’s a position there that you can give to somebody and help them out, and they help you out, that’s what patronage is all about. If you want to be re-elected, and you won’t find anybody who doesn’t, then you have to build a team, and that means a political team, too. I don’t see anything wrong with that.” Griffin does believe, however, that certain, exceptional instances—ike Joel Giambra’s $90,000 driver—deserve to be exposed for what they are. Does he think his quitting the Common Council in 2005 will affect this race? Griffin talks about some of the things that he was able to do as South District Councilman—getting the special police written back into the city charter and setting aside $1.2 million in block grant funds specifically to benefit the residents of Hickory Woods (which hasn’t been used yet). “As mayor, you
