Open Forum: How should we look at public officials?

Of all the speakers that went up that's the one you decide to focus on. You're a real prize. That person is an emotional basket case. He's gone up there before ranting about how the developement project was taking a physical toll on him. How all the council members should resign. Last night this nut says, that the Chief should resign should it be found out that the arresting officer was wrong. Don't repremand him, first the Chief should resign. And you want an open forum with what this guy said. Is this a Joke.

Thanks for your comment.

You're right. There were many speakers showing their support and their opposition to Councilman Anthony Bejarano, and that information will be reported later in the day.

The reason I pulled this as a forum topic is because whether or not you believe the guy is crazy, he touches on arecurring topic: How high of standards should we set for our public officials?

Some of the commentors of the blog previosuly implied that the bar is set too high and that our expectations of public officials are unreal. I want to know more about what people think about it.

Thanks for starting the discussion.

Jennifer

If I may offer a humble suggestion: I think the key is determining whether an officer holders conduct or activities adversely affects their ability to do their job fairly, honestly, impartially and with the greater public interest in mind.

My criticism of coverage is that it tends to focus on personal character flaws or personality imperfections which don't necessarily have a bearing on whether someone can serve in a fair, honest, impartial manner. Let's face it none of us is perfect in our personal lives...we go through divorces, we have children who occassionaly get in trouble, we occassionally say things in frustration or in the heat of the moment that upon reflection we wish we didn't say, we sometimes get our facts wrong.

I'm not saying electeds shouldn't face the same consequences that anyone else would have to face for criminal activity. That's only fair. But neither should they face legal punishments that are any more severe than anyone else. If you want to vote them out of office at the next election because of their conduct that's your right as voter.

Should electeds be held to a hire standard. In certain respects Yes, but to expect them to be paragons of absolute virtue and perfection in every single nook and cranny of their existence is not only asking for the impossible is may well keep good, effective people out of public office.

I am an elected official but I chose to ramain anonymous due to the fact theI don't want my words to be used against me by these reporters. There should be a higher standard of public conduct by elected because we are often in the public eye. However there is a vast difference between reporting on breaches of standards and nit-picking and constant criticms by local reporters. I wish the public could understand that elected officials must always be "on", there is always pressure on the elected's family time and just going to the corner market requires attention to what we wear. With that said, it is something that we chose to do and we must also have very tough skin to critisms. So keep that in mind when you are qouick to believe the stories on how these electeds are devious and self-serving and not meeting higher standards. I feel that many of us to meet higher standards but those standards are self-motivated and not the ones set by reporters looking for gossipy stories and gadflys hell bent on complaining. Sorry for the long post and misspellings.

Anonymous 3 hit the nail on the head.

Yes, we do hold our elected officials to a higher standard, especially when they are representing us at a public event. When they speak at an event, they are speaking for their constituents. If they behave badly, it reflects on their constituents.

Passing Thru:

I think the following distinctions should be made:

1. In appearing at a public event is the office holder appearing simply as member of the public or in some official capacity. Oftentimes this can be a bit blury. Certainly to the extent someone is participating in an official or representative capacity they should behave themsevles and strive to be careful about what they say or on whose behalf they are saying what they say.

2. Does the behavior in any impact the officials ability to act in a fair, impartial, or honest manner in terms of serving the public. If it does not, then unless it is behavior that rises to the level of criminal behavior, I'm not sure that really news.

3. Is the behavior truly criminal behavior, is it non-criminal but somewhat distasteful or is it simply some sort of spontaneous conduct or candid expression of opinion (unrelated to any public position or public matter) that reasonable people can disagree about in terms of offensiveness. If it is the latter, I don't see how that its newsworthy simply because it bothers someone.

Again, I'm not saying we treat our elected with kid gloves in terms of their policy positions or in terms of factors which mighit impact their ability to act fairly, honestly and impartially. But I don't care to know about him having a simple argument with a spouse or that his or her kid got a D on their algebra exam or that one one isoled night they may have seemed a bit tipsy, provided they did not get behind the wheel of care. Unless your a Latter Day Saint, I think we've all had instances where we drank a little more than we should have...but were not violently drunk or reckless.

3.

to Anonymous:
I thought my statement was pretty straight forward. I do hold them to a higher standard, ESPECIALLY when they are representing us at a public event.

Of our city electeds...I usually don't agree with 3 out of the 5 council members, 95% of the time, but I can trust that 4 out of the 5 will not be an embarassment at a public funtion. When an any govt. elected is loud, drunk, vulgar & groping people (even if the individual groped consents) at a public function, I am disgusted, embarrassed, and feel that he/she deserves to be called out for their behavior. Character does matter.

Doesn't it strike you as wrong, when viewing a city council meeting, you hear the mayor chastise a resident for property maintenance, and you know where the mayor lives, and how poorly his property is maintained? In many of our cities, public office seems to mean a public pass from being held to the standards the rest of the citizens must observe.