Phil Reisman: The patronage merry-go-round that never stops

On Sunday I wrote about political patronage — the system by which government jobs are handed out in exchange for services rendered. Today, we have Patronage Part Two.

The star of this episode is Hugh Fox, Jr.

Up until late August, when he was nailed on a DWI charge, Fox, 56, held one of those hard-to-describe county jobs that often show up on spreadsheets as "aide," or "assistant." I used to razz him in print that his main responsibilities extended no further than tossing sharpened pencils at the cork ceiling above his desk.

That was unfair of me. For one thing, I have no idea if the ceiling above his desk was actually made of cork. So I retract the remark.

Fox, who is a former Yonkers firefighter, served as a labor specialist and public works trouble shooter under County Executive Rob Astorino. During Astorino's first term in office, he saw his pay steadily rise from $92,440 to $105,770 a year, which proves that, unlike the private sector, wages are not stagnant in the spoils system.

Fox may have been effective in his job, but that wasn't really why he was making a six-figure salary courtesy of Westchester's taxpayers.

The main reason was that he was chairman of the county's Conservative Party.

Before Fox was chairman, the party's chief was Gail Burns, a longtime loyalist and direct beneficiary of the powerful Spano machine in Yonkers.

Burns didn't make a move without first getting approval from Nick Spano, the former Republican state senator who became an Albany lobbyist. Despite his lifelong GOP affiliation, Spano knew that his business depended upon the Democrats in power.

And so in 2010, Burns steered the Conservative endorsement to, of all people, Andy Spano (no relation to the Yonkers Spanos), a liberal Democrat and incumbent county executive, who was running for re-election against Astorino.

Astorino won the election anyway.

Nevertheless, revenge was in the air. The Conservatives ousted Burns in a coup and installed Fox as chairman.

The next thing you know, he's got a county job with regular raises.

By the way, the spoils system didn't forget Burns. After her ouster, Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat who was then chairman of the county Board of Legislators, came to her rescue. He gave her a $15,000 short-term job of some kind to get her through the rest of the year.

Later, after Nick's brother, Mike Spano, was elected Yonkers mayor as a Democrat, Burns returned to the municipal fold as his $105,000-a-year head of "constituent services," which is sort of like being a "community liaison," which is sort of like … well, who the hell knows?

It's like a merry-go-round, this patronage game. The brass rings are jobs of amorphous description.

Back to Hugh Fox.

Fox was arrested for drunk driving on the night of Aug. 25 after getting in a five-car accident in White Plains. He was behind the wheel of a county vehicle. According to police, he smelled of alcohol, slurred his words and failed a sobriety test.

Police said that before officers got the scene, Fox got into an argument with one of the other drivers. He allegedly told her that he wouldn't be arrested because he worked for the county. He was lucky (and so was Astorino) that no one was hurt or killed in the accident.

The next day, he resigned.

All this happened just as his term as chairman of the Conservatives was about to expire. Party leaders said they didn't expect the DWI charge to prevent him from being re-elected — and they proved to be correct.

On Monday, the party formally announced that Fox had been unanimously selected to serve another term.

Charles Duffy, of Somers, who was elected first vice-chairman, said Fox's DWI arrest was not a "major issue" with the delegates.

"My impression from it was that people considered it a personal matter and had confidence that he's been a good leader since 2010, when he took over," Duff said. "It was a very favorable reorganization."

Meanwhile, Astorino continues to fight an uphill battle for governor. He expects to win, despite the odds.

But what's a more realistic outcome — Astorino becoming the next governor of New York, or Hugh Fox some day returning to a county job?

Remember the merry-go-round.

Reach Phil Reisman at preisman@lohud.com. Twitter: @philreisman.