LENINGRAD….

What passes for democracy in Leningrad Oblast, the region around St. Petersburg, may also get a dose of management. The regional assembly chose as its representative to the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, a man called by one of his backers “an egregious person, a personality known above all for cynicism and odiousness.” The man in question is Alfred Kokh, who as Boris Yeltsin’s State Property Committee chairman had a large hand in creating the hated oligarchs, and who more recently as head of Gazprom-Media helped to drive the independent press into state control. The region’s prosecutor has gone to court to overturn the election, on the grounds that Kokh’s income-disclosure statement is not in proper form–among other problems, Kokh apparently completed it in longhand, and did not type or print as required. The court hearing begins today, March 13. The Federation Council itself, which passes on the credentials of its members, may also decide not to seat Koch when it meets, also March 13.