Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Higher Standard of Accountability

Elected officials are as a general rule held to a higher standard of accountability when it comes to personal actions taken while in political office. The voting public wants people who represent them to treat everyone with respect and equality. Off color jokes and other demeaning behaviors might and I stress only might be accepted at tea party meetings but not in government offices.

It is one thing when you are only representing yourself or the Republican Party to act stupid in public but quite another when you represent the views of the public in a job position. Behaviors of the past just are not viewed well in today’s polite society by anyone in the Democratic Party.

Now we are facing an issue of such misguided behavior from a republican county commissioner who made the mistake of expressing his poor personal views in writing which was reported in the news. How could anyone be surprised when the voting public gathered on the steps of the county offices downtown to demand the removal of Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Weiner?

Racist remarks are just not acceptable in today’s society and of course the voting public is going to react to any public official who knowingly transmits them to other individuals.