This morning's New York Times magazine features a profile of the New York schools chancellor, Harold Levy. The article reports that, after graduating from law school, Mr. Levy went to Wall Street, "first working at Skadden, Arps, Slater, Meagher & Flom." The Times manages to get part of the law firm's name wrong; John Slate spelled his name with no "r." The article goes on to report that on his first day in his office at the Board of Education headquarters, "Levy was hanging up several suits on hangers collected during his previous incarnation in the corporate world. He noticed the first-class insignia: Mandarin Hotel, Hong Kong; Burgenstock Hotel, Lucerne; Stafford Hotel, London."
Now, Smartertimes.com is not suggesting that Mr. Levy did anything wrong. For all Smartertimes.com knows, he fully reimbursed the hotels for the hangers, or the hotels gave him the hangers free as a promotion, or he was very careful to ask and get permission to take the hangers. But now that the Times has informed readers that Mr. Levy has these hangers, it's a bit of a letdown that the newspaper doesn't continue to press the chancellor on this point. Does he draw the line at hangers or does he also go for the towels and ashtrays? And does he feel any responsibility for all the time that those staying in less august quarters spend struggling to fit the little ball-bearing top on the theft-resistant hotel hanger into its receptacle on the ring that's attached to the closet bar?
Limited Agenda: A front-page news article in this morning's New York Times reports that George W. Bush "has a far more focused -- Democrats say less ambitious -- agenda than Mr. Clinton. The former president at this point was promoting a raft of initiatives to expand government; Mr. Bush is sticking to his signature plan to cut taxes."
Even the Bush-bashers on the Times editorial board acknowledge in their editorial today that the Bush agenda is bigger than the tax cut. The editorial says, "Mr. Bush is relying on the game plan with which he achieved success as the governor of Texas, concentrating on a limited agenda to the exclusion of almost all else. Since the inauguration, this has meant taxes and education." If even the editorialists can see fit to mention education as part of the Bush agenda, why doesn't the news article? In any event, it's pretty funny to see that the Times editorial page, after attacking Bush's record as Texas governor all through the presidential campaign season, has now all of a sudden declared it a "success."