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I spent 33 years as a journalist, including 13 covering one of
the most secretive, evasive and back-room governments you
will ever encounter, the State of Illinois.
So I understand the need for skepticism when examining the
claims of government, and when listening to a public official
explain a decision or an accomplishment. It’s a rare public
official who admits to a mistake. And I admit that when one does, I
wonder what else they may not be saying.
But after leaving the Kitsap Sun at the end of 2008, I am no
longer a journalist. I was hired by the Kitsap Regional Library in
late March to work on the library’s new strategic plan, which will
cover the years 2010 to 2015. The library historically has gone
through the strategic planning process once every five years or so.
That makes me a public employee now, and subject to skepticism from
the public. I accept that.
What concerns me is when cynicism takes the place of
skepticism.
The Kitsap Sun posted a relatively innocuous news brief the other day
that had been submitted by the library. In fact, it was submitted
by me. It was a notice to the public that I was going to be
conducting a series of public meetings to allow you to brainstorm
ideas about how the library could improve services over the next
five years. After the item was posted on Kitsapsun.com, a comment
appeared.
paradyne64 said: “IE, we want to raise your property taxes, try
#2.”
About 40 minutes later, a second post appeared. Nels Sultan
said: “One library service I’d like to see is basic transparency in
library board governance. Please put on the KRL web site the names
of the board of directors, meeting minutes, financial statements,
etc. The library is another one of these opaque regional boards
that want to hide their rulings and agenda.”
A few hours later, betterdesign posted the following comment:
“FYI: KRL does have the board members listed on their website along
with agendas and minutes.” Betterdesign then added a link to the
place on the KRL web site where that information can be found.
What strikes me is the degree of cynicism in the first two
comments. To the first person, the strategic planning process is a
ruse to develop a levy proposal for the library.
Let me address that point. The library proposed a levy lid lift
in 2007 (hence the reference to “try #2″). When it was defeated,
the library board of trustees and administration did not go back to
the voters a second time, as many government agencies do. Instead,
the administration took what the public said to heart, examined its
budget, made cuts to bring spending in line with revenue, and
created a sustainable financial plan that avoided any staff layoffs
and any need for periodic closures, employee furloughs or other
emergency budget measures. Every staff member of KRL accepted a
wage freeze this year to make that budget work.
KRL, which has not had a levy rate increase since 1979, is not
on the ballot this year asking for more money. The KRL Board of
Trustees may seek a tax levy sometime in the future. But it also
may not. That is a decision the board will make in the future. So
it’s cynical to suggest, with no evidence, that a series of public
meetings about the library strategic plan is really about a levy
proposal.
The second point was addressed by betterdesign. Clearly, KRL is
not trying to hide its decisions, rulings and agenda. That
information is up on its web site for public examination.
I believe skepticism of public entities is healthy. Skepticism
prompts you not to just take someone’s word at face value, but to
research and verify the accuracy of their statements. Cynicism,
however, allows a person to suggest the local library is trying to
hide information about its governance without making the effort to
find out the truth.
In my opinion, we should foster skepticism; but we should be
very careful of cynicism in our public debate.
— Jeff
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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