Should The Official Respect The Office?

There's an old saying: "You don't need to respect the person, but you should respect the office," or something along those lines.

We often say that when there is someone in office that we are trying to defend, but who is pretty much indefensible. I'm sure we can all come up with examples, and I'm also sure we'd probably end up arguing about the validity of each other's examples.

That's politics in the United States. It's a divisive and ugly business, and it would appear that it is getting worse. Or maybe every generation feels that way.

But it seems to me that some elected officials aren't even pretending to respect the people they serve any longer; they are letting their hostility show openly. 

Monday evening I was thinking about all of this while at the Mission Viejo City Council meeting watching a political drama unfold. In any political drama there are always two sides. On Monday evening one side wanted to save the city between $3 million and $4 million by changing the retirement plan for new hires, increase how much current employees contribute to their own retirement and give current employees a 1.3% raise. The total cost of the raise was about $90,000; less than 3 percent of the amount the city would save. The other side didn't want to do that.

Nothing new in politics there. Usually both sides present their case and then a vote is called. In fact, the "rules or order" provide for every elected representative to have a say.

The council dealt with this issue first because Council-member Ury's daughter was being given an award and he had to leave by 6:30 p.m. so he could support her. That makes sense if you consider that Mission Viejo is a town people intentionally move to in order to raise a family. And given that Mission Viejo is predominantly Republican, and that political party's mantra since Reagan has been "family values," it would be odd not to move the agenda around so Mr. Ury could set an example of practicing actual, solid "family values."

The issue of adjusting the retirement benefit was first and every councilmember said his or her piece and then a vote was taken. Then came the issue of the pay raise. Each council-member again spoke their mind, and then Mayor Dave Leckness called for a vote. Councilmember Schlicht, who had already made the longest comment of the five, interrupted and said she wasn't done discussing it.

It was a political gambit to stall until Mr. Ury had to leave and then the vote would be a tie and the issue would have to come back in front of the council again and it would pass. Sometimes your best shot isn't good enough. That's life. They held the vote and Mr. Ury left.

I only use this vote as an example. It isn't important for my current topic which side was right, if either one was. Schlicht was clearly angry. I get that. Politics is win or lose and no one likes to lose. If I were in politics I'd be livid most of the time, I'm sure. I don't think we fault politicians when they get mad. I'm sure we all understand why President Clinton was clearly angry when he said "I did not have sex with that woman." We maybe don't understand why he had sex with her, but if we're honest with ourselves we understand his anger at losing.

Here's the "but" you've been waiting for. During a presentation by a Mission Viejo citizen named Larry Maurer, on a special music program he's going to provide in honor of Memorial Day, Council-member Schlicht rose up abruptly and stormed out of the council chamber looking down at something in her hand; looking down the way a person does who has just gotten a text message.

At first I thought she might have gotten an emergency message, which could very well happen. However she returned without a word; more importantly she returned without an apology to Mr. Maurer whose presentation she disrupted.

At that point her behavior seemed deeply disrespectful to me. And I wouldn't be pointing this out, except that I've seen other officials display the same disrespect over the years. And, like them, Ms. Schlicht often doesn't pay attention to presentations by citizens, and she frequently doesn't pay attention during open comments when the citizens can address the council directly about their concerns. In fact quite a few times she has made a rude remark after a citizen has left the podium or addressed a group of citizens in a very curt and abrupt tone of voice. Again, Schlicht is not the only one I've seen display disrespect over the years. It's happening at all levels of government and Ms. Schlicht's display Monday night just reminded me of a question I've been thinking about for a long time.

Shouldn't our elected officials have to respect the office they hold? Shouldn't they respect the citizens and sit through each presentation paying attention, no matter the subject? Shouldn't they practice common manners and excuse themselves to us as Mr. Ury did? Don't we deserve the same courtesy the elected officials demand we show them?

What do you think?