A medal for Toti’s chief of staff? It’s fair to ask
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Here it is, the latest scandal in the Ligurian affair. Toti and his chief of staff who manipulate the data to get more doses for the Ligurians. Is the gain for the governor in economic terms? Absolutely not. He simply did what was done throughout Italy in that period: he cheated to have more doses, more resources, more money to spend in the territories in a moment of emergency. It makes me smile because during that terrible Covid period they said that Lombardy had invented the data, and then a thousand investigations to ascertain that no, no data had been invented and that everything was in order. And in any case, even today, councils of all levels, mayors and governors and presidents of provinces and bodies “adjust” the data here and there to obtain something more for the communities they administer.
Liguria and Covid vaccines, is it surprising? No
But let’s get back to the point. I am ready to bet more than a coffee that if many other regional councils, many other commissioner structures had been intercepted in the Covid era, the outcome would always have been the same: the effort to grab an extra dose at all costs, an earlier dose. Because this is asked of a governor, because this is what a governor does: he tries to put his own region before the others. Is there anything to be shocked about? Yes, if we were a regulated system where you don’t play fuck buddy. No, in a system like Italy, where the health system of Lombardy is under accusation while that of Lazio, which has failed over and over again in recent decades, in the red with holes as big as the Colosseum, does nothing but pay off debts .
Now, con Francesco Roccawe’ll see, given that he will file his first real budget at the end of the year having been elected in mid-2023. But this doesn’t change the terms of the problem: Italy is the country of chiagni and fuck. Liguria cried to “fuck” a few more doses. Rome Capital cries to “fuck” some more economic resources. And so on. Now, if all this is an offense I don’t know, because we have to follow the magistrates. It’s definitely immoral. But it’s the system that is. And in this system – at least on this specific matter – Giovanni Toti did what he had to do: bring an extra dose to Liguria, even cheerfully fudging the data.
Liguria, Cozzani deserves a medal…
Last note of merit, given that it ended up in the center of the storm Matteo Cozzani, his chief of staff. It’s a job that I know well, very well indeed. The chief of staff is not only the operational arm, but the interface of the top with many realities. It must be formal enough to be respected and informal enough to build relationships that defuse problems. He is loyal to his boss but autonomous. He has a technical role but also political ties. Now, the only way to judge Cozzani is to ask whether there was an exclusive personal advantage in his way of operating.. If the answer is no, then he just did his job, and instead of all this crap he deserves a medal. And a pretty big one too, because maybe that extra dose saved a life, even if today we pretend to forget it.
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