What's another word for transparent?

Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones
has "office hours" on
Saturday mornings at the
Southwest Learning Center.

Part of the meeting is a
non-partisan discussion
of current issues.

It is a largely conservative
group that respects every
other point of view.

The goal is to gain
understanding.



The other half is more dedicated to our Republican needs, including the need to define ourselves as Republicans, of a kind that we can be proud.

We have decided that we share at least one value that defines us all and that is the belief that our government should be transparently accountable to us.

In the world of politics and elections, a great deal depends on choosing exactly the right words to use. We have been using "transparent accountability" for so long that we are wondering if they have become hackneyed.

So what are the right words for "transparent accountability"?

If by transparent we mean; every aspect of the spending of our power and resources is done with our full knowledge. No secrets about the spending of the public trust and treasure should be kept secret from us except as provided for by the spirit of the law, due process, and common sense.

And if by accountable we mean; if we see something that violates a standard that we have established for our servants, a complaint can be filed, and that complaint will see a principled resolution; it will see due process. The least powerful should be able to file a complaint against the most powerful, and then fully expect that the complaint will see due process.

Inescapable accountability to unequivocal standards.

Socrates was only partly right when he concluded that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". It is not power that corrupts, but temptation; the temptation presented when people figure out that they have so much power,
that they can no longer be held accountable for abusing it.

Accountability is fatal to corruption and incompetence. If 100% accountability were possible, it would be 100% fatal to 100% of corruption, 100% of the time.

There is no legitimate agenda of any party or person, that does not move forward on the day that public servants are honestly accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence within their public service.

NM State Auditor Hector Balderas said that he has not been given the resources that he needs to keep 3-5% of the budget from being wasted every year.

He said if his Office were given the necessary resources, he could save taxpayers between $120M and $240M a year, over and above the cost of making impossibly difficult to hide corruption; tax dollars that could be better spent; or returned to tax payers.

It is possible to make it impossibly difficult to hide corruption.

It is possible to make accountability inescapable.

The question is not how it can be done.
The question is will it be done.

Corruption and incompetence exist in our government, only because we allow them.

The only thing standing between New Mexico riddled with corruption, and New Mexico, the free world model for transparently accountable government, is a relative hand full of good ol' boys who like things the way they are.

All we need to do is name them, and then throw their asses out.

The answer is transparent accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence within public service.

The problem is how to get voters to understand that,
and then act upon that understanding;

... in two or three carefully chosen words.




photos Mark Bralley