The difference between a lawyer and economist

Submitted by johnzbesko on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 13:37

(Opening statement, League of Women Voters Evanston forum)
 
Like all the candidates running for an Evanston office, I have lived in Evanston for a long period of time, have been involved in the community and am eager and willing to serve you in elective office. I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I am a unique candidate for 7th ward alderman.

Currently, there are four aldermen who are lawyers by profession or training. I am the only candidate whose career is in finance, business management, and economics. You, the voters, have a very distinct choice to make. You can choose to elect someone who can explain pension fund accounting to you, or you can elect someone who needs to have it explained to them. You can choose a candidate that will discuss financing options for capital improvement projects with the City Finance Director or you can elect a candidate who will decide among the options presented to them by the Finance Director.  You, the voters, can elect an aldermen who asks the Information Systems Director to study the trade off between buying 50 rugged police laptops at $4000 each vs. a larger number of sub $500 netbooks. Or you can elect someone who simply votes yes or no on the $200K laptop proposal. To me, asking these questions is what being a proactive alderman is all about.

Likewise, the way an economist and a lawyer approach a problem can be very different. Recently, the Council wished to encourage the hiring of Evanston residents for City contracts. The lawyers wrote regulations stating that bidding contractors must hire some quota of Evanston residents. I would urge my fellow aldermen to consider an incentive plan instead. If a contractor could earn a bonus for hiring a local resident, then the burden of proof is on the contractor to prove they have hired local help, rather than burdening City staff with enforcement. Perhaps a wider pool of contractors would be encouraged to bid, rather than the fewer willing to endure the red tape of regulation.

As an economist, I was appalled that the City Council awarded a monopoly contract to a waste hauler. The reasons for doing so included economies of scale and the value of stability in service. I ask anyone for any example where a monopoly resulted in lower prices or better service. As an alderman, I simply wouldn't accept these arguments. I want to change the way the City Council makes decisions.

Our country, our City, is facing a severe economic crisis. It will require a lot of creative thinking to make a bad situation better. I am eager to provide a new perspective to the Council's deliberations and I want to change the way the City is run for the better.

In this campaign, I have written much about various issues. You, the voters, are fortunate that all the candidates have websites and blogs and so you can compare us candidates with the click of a mouse. I urge you to do so, exercise your independence, form your own judgement. Consider all the evidence and render your vote. Thank you for your consideration.
 

Comments

jeffpsmith

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 14:12

"Currently, there are four aldermen who are lawyers by profession or training."

???  Moran; Wynne; Bernstein; Jean-Baptiste; Hansen.

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5, not 4, in my book.

But what do I know about math. I'm just a lawyer.

JunadRizki

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 14:56

Jeff don't you think it might be good to get someone on the council that understands the capital plan.  Frankly the lawyers on the council haven't done much to keep us from paying high legal fees.
My current estimate is the city has been paying out several million dollars in settlements and legal fees every year.
What I found interesting lately, is the City even paid a $5,000 legal bill to the National Rife Association Lawyers, do you know anything about that?
 
 

johnzbesko

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 17:12

Jeff, my mistake, you're right. When I wrote my statement, I was thinking of Moran, Bernstein, Jean-Baptiste and Hansen. I had trouble verifying the professions of the others, but I did discover that Wynne is in the legal profession. I then failed to update my speech.
 
Thank you for adding emphasis to my point that the City Council needs more diversity of profession.
 
 

JunadRizki

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 17:17

Wynne I belive is not practicing law, but may have practiced in the past.
 
I am in 100% agreement we need more diversity of professions on the city council.

jeffpsmith

Sun, 03/08/2009 - 12:15

Degrees and profession are a very crude measure, is all I'm saying, so this is a weak argument. Overall, this society could use better statistical analytical skills, but people supposedly trained in numbers are just as capable as lawyers of making good or bad decisions.
 
Assumptions, mis-assumptions, and ideologically-skewed opinions of economists helped bring this country to our current economic disaster -- with an Ivy-League-trained M.B.A. at the helm. The first President Bush also presided over the last banking crisis and major recession -- and he was phi beta kappa in economics from Yale.
 
Naomi Wolf in Shock Doctrine documents the suffering that economists in the service of ideology have helped bring to many.
 
Didn't the City of Evanston have plenty of models and assumptions that ignored reality and probability, in arriving at the current pension fund fiasco? Who developed those -- lawyers, or people trained in economics and finance?
 
On the other hand, with a Council with so many lawyers, some of the legal decisions and missteps the City has made are equally mystifying.
 
Smart people, working hard, can analyze facts and data, regardless of their training. I think criticism of Council decisionmaking is better directed, not at individual aldermen's professional background, but at an advocacy approach that puts result first, rationalization second.

JunadRizki

Sun, 03/08/2009 - 18:05

Jeff - I am not running as you know, but I would disagree with you quite strongly.
I have years of experience in Architecture, Structural Engineering and Project Engineering. As well as operating Facilities and Construction. I also have a professional license and degrees in the fields.
Bottom line Jeff - when I go to the Administrative and Public Work meetings and listen to the lawyers  and the other council members with limit skills ask silly question of staff, I am quite amused.  Where are their analytical minds at work?
There isn't a meeting I do not go to that they have no clue as to what they are doing.
Bottom line the city has a very small budget for capital which when misused makes it even smaller.
 
 
 

jeffpsmith

Sun, 03/08/2009 - 20:26

I wouldn't disagree that our city and other governments (not least of which, our schools) could benefit by more oversight by folks who know what pouring concrete or laying pipe should cost. Altho that's primarily a staff function. There's also a danger that a pro in any field will not quibble with high prices charged by someone else in the field.
 
John's thesis was lawyers good, economists bad, or at least, economists = better than lawyers. I disagree with the generalization. Also, John analyzes stocks. I don't know see how that makes him any more qualified than a lawyer to evaluate an alley paving contract.
 
Finally, the Council is primarily a policy-setting body. An alderman's first job is to represent constituents, on a wide variety of subjects and issues, many of which do not involve numbers. Revising our gun control ordinance and the beekeeping dispute spring to mind as typical issues in which the primary arguments are not economic. And, for that matter, the "Tower" debate and other city "character" issues involve a citizenry's right to say that sometimes, money is not the only consideration. Obviously, with a pension funding plan, that's not the case. 
 
Also, I want to know what kind of "economics" someone believes in. Some schools of economics would say we should dismantle or privatize most City functions, from our libraries to our beaches.
 
One reason lawyers run for legislative office and get elected is because representing people is already part of their toolkit. A good lawyer has to be able to learn new subjects, including complex ones, in a variety of fields, and be able to see both sides of an issue. I think the individual matters more than the degree.
 
My point is only that these candidates are running for alderman, not applying for a job as Finance Director or Director of Public Works. Some of those positions are open; maybe some economists and structural engineers should apply for them.

JunadRizki

Sun, 03/08/2009 - 22:28

Jeff - It took me 5 minutes to see the capital plan is screwed up. I don't need any great knowledge to figure that out.
You comment things are primarily a staff function, is interesting - the lawyers at the city  are a staff function - so why do we need so many on the council?
Jeff, not clear about this statement "There's also a danger that a pro in any field will not quibble with high prices charged by someone else in the field."  So do you think this is why we have such high legal bills?
 
I understand the costs of items yes, I understand if the costs are too high or too low in construction.
Actually Jeff, I know when and when not  to use a consultant and I understand the costs and the sequence of how work needs to be done.
What you may not understand, someone who understands any field well regardless, be it finanice or engineering can give the oversite at a high level, needed they do not need to do the work.
Jeff actually this statement of your's is interesting "A good lawyer has to be able to learn new subjects, including complex ones, in a variety of fields," Actually many patent attoneries come out of engineering and science, so they have some background in the field. Most do not study liberal arts and then do patents. Some lawyers are also doctors who do legal work in the medical field.
Actually Jeff, staff members who are engineers or in finance may well welcome someone who really understands what they are doing, that is they will not be assigned stupid tasks, by people who do not know anything about a field.
Too me that is the most destructive problem we may have that the council members are making staff do useless tasks, which clearly no one wants to do.