Village Elects Dead Mayor

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MIKE PESCA, host:

Welcome back to the Bryant Park Project from NPR News, online all the time at npr.org/bryantpark. At NPR, they do hard news, straight news, breaking news. Korva Coleman is a veteran of all these news iterations. Hello, Korva.

KORVA COLEMAN: Mmm. Hello, Mike.

PESCA: Right now, Korva, I introduce you to what BPP brings to the party. Korva Coleman, let's get ready to Ramble. Let me show you how it's - well, not done, and then you can improve upon my example.

COLEMAN: OK.

PESCA: OK?

COLEMAN: OK.

PESCA: Building blocks. Yesterday, we talked about a county in North Dakota, which had a whopping voter turnout of zero. In that case, the constituency didn't bring much to the table. As we look to Romania, we find an example where the lack of dynamism lays with the candidate because residents of a Romanian village knowingly voted a dead man as their mayor on Sunday.

COLEMAN: Oh, my God.

PESCA: The man had run the village for almost 20 years. He did a really good job. He died just after voting began. He won by 23 votes. Authorities kept the polls open, so that they wouldn't have to do a rerun if his opponent won.

One supporter said, I know he died, but I didn't want a change. The election went to the runner-up, but the dead man's party and some villagers have called for a new vote. Hey, let's not cast aspersions. This happened in our own state of Missouri.

COLEMAN: It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase vote or die.

PESCA: Yeah. Vote or die.

COLEMAN: Vote and die.

PESCA: I'll check box two.

COLEMAN: Well, as for felonies, how about this? Thieves, thieves, copper thieves.

PESCA: Scoundrels.

COLEMAN: Somebody took 300 feet of copper grounding wire out of a Southern California Edison substation yesterday. OK. Big whoop, but guess what happened? Because they took it, they had to shut off power to like 20,000 people, 19,000 customers thereabouts, while they repaired all the damage. Can you imagine, you lost your power because of copper wire thieves for four hours?

(Soundbite of laughter)

COLEMAN: I'm not making this up either. Power was back on by 5 p.m. yesterday, and it's going to cost them 30,000 dollars to fix it.

PESCA: So they should not try to sell the copper. They should just try to hold it hostage, it turns out.

COLEMAN: They should hold it hostage.

PESCA: Yeah.

COLEMAN: There's a website, if you want to go find it. You can absolutely go to sce.com/coppertheft. Copper theft is one word.

PESCA: When you're an orphan baby bird, and I know you have been at times, times are hard. You may be cute as anything. But there's no one around to chew up worms or regurgitate them into your mouth, and there's no one there to teach you to sing. Now, orphaned baby birds are being played recordings of songs to teach them what they will need in the wild. It's vital.

Singing is how male birds protect their turf and score chicks. Not like, chicks, chicks, mates, you know, which then leads to chicks. Birds, meaning female birds, choose their partners on the ability to sing. Song is hardwired into birds' brains, but they also need to hear their parents sing, otherwise they develop discordant and abnormal songs.

COLEMAN: Sing to me, Mike.

PESCA: They'll be signed to the Sub Pop label, I'm sure, with that. But still, in the bird world, it doesn't fly. A study with the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals in Great Britain concluded that they'd benefit, the birds would, from hearing songs by their own species. Bird song CDs are now being played twice daily at all rescue centers where baby birds are being cared for.

COLEMAN: Sing to me, Mike. Sing to me.

PESCA: I can't do it. No. I would turn off too many birds. I would cause a decline in bird birth rates.

COLEMAN: I'm sure you wouldn't. Well, let's stick with the animals. Here's one for you. Did you ever hear the phrase rich as a dog?

PESCA: I have never heard that phrase.

COLEMAN: Not sick as a dog, rich as a dog.

PESCA: No.

COLEMAN: Well, the reason you haven't because there's no such thing, and it doesn't make any sense. However, if you're as rich as a dog, you can't possibly be in as much trouble as poor Trouble. Trouble is Leona Helmsley, remember her?

PESCA: Oh, yeah.

COLEMAN: Her nine-year-old dog, a Manhattan judge has reduced the dog's 12-million-dollar trust fund, what a thing, to a scant two million dollars. This was all part of Helmsley's deal. Well, actually, it's a deal where Helmsley's disinherited grandchildren ended up getting some of her estate...

PESCA: Oh, my.

COLEMAN: Helmsley died last year. She was 87. And the grandchildren have been arguing that she wasn't mentally competent when she signed off on her will in 2005.

PESCA: Because the other legal argument, that we were really terrible grandchildren, probably wouldn't fly in court.

COLEMAN: Oh, yeah. I guess not. 12 million dollars for the dog, and the trustees of the fortune for Trouble - that is the dog's name, Trouble - said the dog probably didn't need all the 12 million.

PESCA: I'm glad they couched it, probably.

COLEMAN: Well, the general manager said the dog has a hotel in Florida, the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, and the dog is well cared for. And he says two million dollars would probably be enough money to pay for Trouble's maintenance and welfare at the highest standards of care for more than ten years, which incidentally is more than twice a reasonably anticipated life expectancy.

So expenses are about, oh, 190,000 dollars a year and includes 60,000 dollars for a guardian fee and get this, a 100,000 dollar fee for the dog's security squad.

PESCA: Oh, my lord.

COLEMAN: Take it to the bank.

PESCA: And that is your Ramble. These stories and more on our website, npr.org/bryantpark. Thank you, Korva.

COLEMAN: You're welcome, Mike. Sing to me.

PESCA: Won't do it.

COLEMAN: Please.

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