Ruotolo's Theorem Traps the PD

The Democratic Party (PD) in Italy's Campania region is once again under fire for alleged ties to organized crime, echoing previous scandals in Torre Annunziata and Castellammare di Stabia. The latest controversy surrounds Ercolano, where a convicted drug trafficker was seen celebrating with local party leaders, including two councilors and the city secretary. This incident has intensified criticism of the PD's efforts to maintain moral integrity within its ranks.

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But if the results of the moralizing intentions have been so poor, the method for obtaining them seems different.

Riccardo Marone, a prominent PD figure and former mayor of Naples, highlighted the paradoxical situation in Castellammare di Stabia. He questioned the timing of national secretary Sandro Ruotolo's concerns about "too many questionable people" joining the party's coalition. Marone argued that if Ruotolo disagreed with the candidate or the coalition's composition, he should have acted decisively as a national party leader, rather than running as a top candidate himself.

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But why did Sandro Ruotolo only denounce the fact of having "onboarded too many people" now? Did he not notice at the time? Did he not agree with the mayoral candidate? If so, a serious party plays a role of political leadership and imposes the right line on the candidate: otherwise, it withdraws political support, but certainly a member of the national secretariat does not run as the top candidate of a party in a coalition that he believes has taken on unsavory people.

Ruotolo's alleged belated realization of these issues, surfacing only after media reports on wiretapped conversations involving two councilors, has led to accusations of hypocrisy. He resigned from the city council, shifting blame to the mayor, an action seen by critics as a self-serving attempt to save face without addressing the party's broader problems. This pattern of behavior is now reportedly repeating in Ercolano, with the possibility of further political instability if councilors associated with problematic figures are expelled from the majority.

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Instead, he remembered it two years later, when rumors about wiretaps concerning the two city councilors began to appear in the newspapers.