The value of integrity
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The first thing I learned in the Army was the Army Values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. I eventually learned that the proper answer to "Which of the Army Values is most important?" is honor, which means living up to all the Army Values.
My personal favorite, however, is integrity, which is doing what is right, legally and morally, even when no one is looking. I wish I saw it more from public officials.
Recently, the House ethics committee charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with 13 counts of breaking House rules for soliciting donations for an education center named after him, using a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign headquarters, failing to report income from a rental property in the Dominican Republic and for a "pattern of submitting inaccurate and incomplete financial disclosure statements" to Congress, according to a Wall Street Journal article.
Rangel's reply? "If I've been overzealous in providing that (public) service, I can't make an excuse for the serious violation, but I can have an explanation of my intent." Anyone who acts with integrity doesn't need to explain his actions.
Perhaps I should send a dictionary with a sticky note on "integrity" to Rangel.
Another representative, Maxine Waters, from California, has also been charged by the ethics committee. While the details haven't been released, many believe the charges stem from her attempt to secure bailout money for a bank where she and her husband have substantial investments.
These are not isolated cases, unfortunately.
Mayors are hiring prostitutes. The governor of South Carolina admitted to flying to South America to cheat on his wife. Another tried to sell President Barack Obama's Senate seat. Yet another is accused of flying her children around the country on Alaska's dime. A senator was charged with soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. Various elected office-seekers spent thousands of campaign dollars on wardrobes and haircuts.
And who can forget Bonusgate?
One of the more interesting sound bites of that fiasco is from Rep. Bill DeWeese, who, according to testimony from his former aide, Kevin Sidella, said, "Our saving grace is everybody does it," in response to Sidella's concern that 40 percent of the aide's time was dedicated to campaign work.
Everybody is doing it? Isn't that what teenagers tell their friends to get them to smoke, drink and do who knows what else? Am I alone in expecting the leaders of our legislature to have more maturity and internal fortitude than a 16-year-old?
While the incident is far from criminal, integrity is unfortunately lacking at the local level as well.
Sunbury police were called to the courthouse in December because county Commissioner Clausi was seen by several county employees yelling at Chief Deputy Sheriff Randy Coe to arrest him. According to an incident report, Clausi was heard yelling at Coe, "If you want to arrest me, here I am, arrest me" in the first floor hallway of the courthouse. Coe didn't respond at first and Clausi kept yelling, according to the report. No charges were filed and Clausi wasn't arrested, but an elected official and leader of the county is expected to conduct himself with a lot more decorum than yelling "arrest me" in a courthouse. Frankly, I'd be appauled by a kindergartener who acted that way in public, let alone a grown man who claims to have the taxpayers' best interests at heart. It's one thing to buck the system, but it's an entirely different ball of wax to do so without regard for a place that demands and deserves our best behavior.
What we all tend to forget is that elected officials do not just work for their supervisors, they work for us. If they're drawing a paycheck of any kind from a government entity, they're drawing it from our tax dollars. Don't we, the hardworking members of this society, deserve the courtesy of integrity? Why is it so lacking in those who need it most?
I look forward to the day when elected officials and public servants act like they have been raised with some manners.
(Nicolov, an assistant editor at The News-Item, writes "Don't Get Me Started" for each Friday edition. Contact her at julie_n@newsitem.com.)
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