When Landmarks Association of St. Louis embarked on an ambitious plan to create a tourism-oriented architectural center downtown, Larry Cohn said he wanted to help and eagerly pledged $500,000. After two years of planning, Landmarks officials were ready to move ahead...Just one problem: The check bounced, and Cohn was nowhere to be found.

He evidently was not a productive individual, but he was extremely generous, at first using money that he inherited. Later, when that apparently ran out, he tried to maintain his generosity.

The story suggests that Cohn is mentally ill. I'm thinking that if he held elective office, his behavior would be considered exemplary.

CATEGORIES: Political Economy

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Troy Camplin, Ph.D. writes:

That does sound like typical government official generosity: take other people's money, then give it away and take the credit for being such a generous person. He at least gave his own money away. This was simply him trying to maintain his reputation to the end (well, past it).

Posted August 16, 2008 2:07 PM

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