Proverbial

Träsel (.br) makes a good point, but I think he misses an even larger problem about politics coverage in all of Brazil’s press right now. Yes, editors and reporters should show a little more backbone, but this is not due to productive processes or political agendas. What we’re seeing is just another symptom of our current political zeitgeist.

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Yeda Crusius, the current governor of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil’s southernmost state, where I live) was elected a couple of years ago beating all odds. To this day, no one can really explain what happened, but the favored explanation is that, in the attempt to keep Olívio Dutra, the Worker’s Party candidate, out of the second round race, enough voters switched from Germano Rigotto (PMDB) to her to end up kicking the then governor and favorite for reelection from the race.

Whatever happened, the absolute reality is that not even Yeda expected to be elected, to the point where she had to fire her publicity manager in the middle of the race because she couldn’t pay him anymore. Her coalition was a hodgepodge of parties, and the veep, Paulo Feijó (DEM) was a conservative technocrat who had never held any political office, and who had radically different opinions from hers on the economy.

When what was supposed to be a move to guarantee some power for PSDB on Rigotto’s administration ended up seating Yeda at Palácio Piratini, they had to scramble and build an actual government plan in a hurry. The typical result, a mix of tax hikes and pay cuts, was promptly voted down by the Legislative Assembly, and she had her first defeat even before taking office. The cherry on top: the main voice in the opposition was the vice-governor, Paulo Feijó.

Things haven’t really improved from then till now, and Feijó has always been a voice of dissent inside the administration, to the point where the governor wouldn’t make any trips outside the state, so as to not having to hand the state’s helm to him. Her worst days began some months ago, when a scheme was uncovered where money from the Transit Department (from tickets - especially those from speed cameras - and fees for ordering driver licenses) was being used to finance campaigns, mainly for PP and PMDB.

Then this last friday, the shit hit the proverbial fan, when Feijó released a tape of a conversation he had with César Busatto (PPS), in which Yeda’s chief-of-staff acknowledged the financing scheme, said it had been going on for decades, and asked what he could offer the vice-governor for him to stop being such a strong opposition voice during these hard times. So far, this has cost the job of four top-level officials: Busatto, secretary-general Delson Martini, the ambassador in Brasilia Marcelo Cavalcanti, and the Military Police’s commander Nilson Bueno.

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In different times, this would be more than enough for the press to be rightfully screaming for Yeda’s head. But, as Träsel points out, what we’re seeing is an echo chamber of factoids coming from Palácio Piratini, questioning Feijó’s character.

Thing is, this is how the press has been treating political scandals for quite some time, now. Ricardo Noblat, Brazil’s most widely read blogger, yesterday linked to an op-ed by Ruy Fabiano (.br) addressing precisely this problem:

An emblematic aspect of the current crisis - the selling of Varig - is that the question being asked, both in and outside Congress, doesn’t address the innocence or lack thereof of the accused. What is asked is only whether it will come to something or not. We don’t argue the content anymore, only the result. So far has come the so called moral relativism of the country.

Note that he was talking about charges that president Lula’s chief-of-staff, and likely presidential candidate, Dilma Roussef had a hand in allowing a foreign fund to buy Brazilian airline Varig, which is strictly forbidden under Brazilian law. But he might as well be talking about the kerfuffle down here in the South.

Truth of the matter is that, right now, Brazilians are anesthetized to political crisis and scandals. Just look at how president Lula has breezed through so many scandals involving top officials and close friends by just saying “I didn’t know about it”. Thus, it is no wonder the press would prefer to discuss whether what Feijó did was morally and ethically reprehensible, instead of addressing the terrible implications of Busatto’s statements. They’re only a reflection of the society we’re currenty living in.

P.S.: I wanted to put up a picture Zero Hora’s photographer Daniel Marenco took during the congressional comission investigating the fraud in the Transit Department. But Proverbial is undergoing server changes and I’m having trouble uploading images. Meanwhile, go check his blog and work.

P.S. 2: Talking about blogs, vice-governor Feijó keeps one himself (.br). For the Portuguese-speaking audience, it might be an interesting read.