"Re-Election of PRC Chairman Jason Marks a Public Financing Success Story"

So reads the headline on a post at Democracy for New Mexico
link

The author writes;

"Public campaign financing is one of the most powerful tools in the movement towards better government transparency, improved ethics and increased accountability of elected officials to the citizenry."

I take issue with "movement toward".

Ethics and accountability are not steps in a journey.
They are a singular point; you either are or you're not,
there are no half way points, you cannot be "on your way" there.

There is either inescapable accountability to unequivocal standards, or there is not.
There is inescapable accountability to unequivocal standards,
and there is the "also ran".

If anyone suggests that they are at some halfway point,
that they are on a journey,
it is only to draw attention off of the reality which is;
they are not willing to take the plunge entirely.

• They are not willing to establish higher standards of conduct and competence, and
• they are not willing to be held honestly accountable to those standards
  

Get back to me please, when they actually step off the curb.