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November 19, 2010
Historically Speaking: Journal of Malfeasance in Old Brooklyn
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by John Manbeck
Malfeasance is not a good deed going unpunished. It’s a mistrust of public office. As such, it is part of our current political scene; it is not unknown in Brooklyn. Our current Brooklyn Eagle keeps a police blotter of today’s malfeasance as did the Eagle of yesteryear.
The term had more panache in the 19th century; today’s press might refer to “crooks” rather than malfeasance, although the crime is similar. In 2003 Judge Victor Barrow was accused of taking bribes and kickbacks, sentencing him to a six-year prison term. Officials from the city, state and MTA have been accused of malfeasance in the eminent domain take-overs of property in the Atlantic Yards case. So the word has a second life.
...To quote George Washington Plunkitt, “I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.” It still happens in Brooklyn and elsewhere.
Posted by eric at November 19, 2010 5:04 PM