SATURDAY, JULY 17, 2010
LITTLE PAVEL TAKES A BREAK
by John F. Di Leo
Tired and bored from a morning collating literature at party headquarters, Pavel Syerov Jr. (Paul to his friends) pushed back his chair from the table and said, “I need a soda. Can I get you anything, Pockets?”
Pockets, the old pol who ran the office when the Boss was out, straightened out the stacks of brochures and direct mail. “Sure, Paully, gimme a grenade. Thanks.”
Pavel went back to the refrigerator and collected a diet cola for himself and a longneck bottle for Pockets, and promptly returned. With adult unemployment at ten percent, there was no chance for a summer job for a 17-year-old, so he had been helping out at the local party HQ all summer. He knew the refrigerator and storeroom as well as any volunteer, and he and Pockets had become fast friends. The young man was getting a better education this summer than any summer school class could have taught.
They kicked back and looked out the window to the sweltering hot day beyond, so they could enjoy their ice cold drinks even better, in this well-deserved break. “So, Pockets, how long do you think Holder can keep his job, before he has to get canned?”
Pockets looked up from his beer. “Canned? Why would Holder be canned? As a good union boy, surely you know we believe in solid job security in this party. A job for a party man is a job for life, I always say!”
“Come on, Pockets,” Pavel said, with a chuckle. “The firestorm about the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia. He didn’t just drop a prosecution before conviction; they already had a judgment. He dropped it between judgment and sentencing! I don’t know much about the law (though my folks want me to go to law school someday), but I know you can’t keep a job as the country’s chief prosecutor if you let convicted criminals go, setting ‘em free when you’ve got them dead to rights!”
“Holder’s doing just fine, Paully,” Pockets told the boy. He was glad he didn’t need to be guarded with this kid. You need to be so careful what you say with most volunteers, with reporters and bloggers always sniffing around… with both of Pavel’s parents being shop stewards in the local unions, Pockets had no reason to question this one, and he liked being in the position of tutor. Maybe someday Pavel would rise to state rep, or state senator, or even alderman, and would fondly remember Pockets as the mentor of his youth. A nice legacy to leave behind when you’re gone.
“Your first duty as an elected official is to reward those who got you elected, right?”
Pavel hesitated a moment before responding. “Umm… right?”
“Of course right!” said Pockets, with a snort for emphasis. “You give jobs to ACORN, you appoint your fellow lecturers and teachers and lawyers and professors to top jobs in the administration, you reward the party bosses who endorsed you, and you shut out the ones who endorsed your opponents.” read the whole story here
Illinois Review: Little Pavel Takes a Break
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