{"id":3034,"date":"2008-03-27T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-27T20:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/ellins-disclosure-is-an-example-others-should-follow\/"},"modified":"2008-03-27T14:50:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-27T20:50:00","slug":"ellins-disclosure-is-an-example-others-should-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/ellins-disclosure-is-an-example-others-should-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellins’ disclosure is an example others should follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Transparency is always the best policy. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to get a call from Lynn Ellins, Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s elections supervisor, to tell me about his November 2006 drunken-driving arrest<\/a> and ask me to write about it. He\u2019s running for county clerk and said he wants his candidacy to be transparent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Way to get ahead of the situation so it doesn\u2019t become a scandal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s similar to what New York<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>\u2019s new governor, David Patterson, has done in the last several days by disclosing past adultery and drug use<\/a>. Especially coming on the heels of the Eliot Spitzer<\/a> scandal, it was a wise move by Patterson.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Why is transparency so important?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s essential that public officials be trustworthy and have integrity. Transparency is one of the main avenues candidates for public office have to earn the trust of those they want to serve.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Second, these issues usually seem to come out anyway. When a journalist or a candidate\u2019s opponent makes such an issue known publicly, there\u2019s almost always an appearance that the candidate didn\u2019t bring it up because he or she was trying to hide it. That creates scandal.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

People like to know that their public officials are human and make mistakes. But they also like to know that officials learn from mistakes and are open about them. Too many public officials don\u2019t understand this and try to hide their past. As a result, they create scandal, whereas if they had just admitted mistakes up front, before their opponents had the chance to attack them, their opponents would have little ammunition to use against them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ellins has shown the sense to get ahead of this so it doesn\u2019t become a scandal, and the humility to admit his mistake publicly. Other candidates would be wise to follow his lead.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not an endorsement of Ellins\u2019 candidacy. Do\u00f1a Ana County Democratic voters should consider the merits of all four candidates before voting in June. I\u2019m simply saying that Ellins has done what all candidates for public office should do in similar situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transparency is always the best policy. That\u2019s why I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to get a call from Lynn Ellins, Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s elections supervisor, to tell me about his November 2006 drunken-driving arrest and ask me to write about it. He\u2019s running for county clerk and said he wants his candidacy to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}