I used to be a public servant. I was a teacher/administrator in the public schools. My Dad was a public servant, the ultimate kind, in the Air Force. Being a public servant meant you knew you could find a higher paying job in the private sector, but you chose on in the public domain instead. It was a calling. You wanted to do good things for the people you served.
And you never forgot who your served when you were a public servant. It’s right in the title. You served the public who paid your salary.
Lately, I’ve begun to notice that there are no longer many who are truly public servants. They may claim to be, but when service is needed, these people serve someone else, whether it’s the big corporations, donors, their party, or their bosses who may also claim to be public servants but aren’t either. Some only serve themselves in the garnering of more power, influence and, yes, money. The only thing that makes these people public servants “public” is that the public pays their salaries.
On a national level, it happens with elected officials who call themselves public servants instead serve their party who, through promises, payoffs or threats, keep them in line. The state level is the same. These public servants go into office and positions as middle to upper middle class and come out multi-millionaires or better. The salaries in their “public service” positions are outrageous by themselves, but what gives them more money are the payoffs, bribes and even “gifts.” Special deals on mortgages, automobiles, kickbacks from grants and special programs, etc. round out income that can often be hidden. And it doesn’t seem to make a difference which party they are in.
One would expect that the local level would be better. It’s not. In fact, the local level might actually be worse because the pay scale of local servants is out of control and grossly out of proportion for the jobs they do. Think about it. A town administrator of around 600 people makes $180,000 a year. Another one of a city of 17,000 makes over $200,000 a year. In the former case, the person oversees a staff of three people, one of whom is that person.
Don’t believe me? Go into your local town or county office and ask for something about how that town is run. For example, ask for the salaries of the public services in that office. In our town of Oxford, Maryland, you are liable to get a rude stare and then be told to “file a public information act” request. Here is an example of what happened recently. This is an email from Oxford resident Scott Rensberger:
A resident in Oxford did a PIA to receive a small sample of the Town’s credit card statements. But, after the Visa statements arrived the “reference numbers” were redacted making it impossible to find out what was purchased. After questioning the redactions, Vickie Sharp (currently the interim town manager) told the resident that if the Town, presumably herself, believes that it’s not in the “public interest” the Town has the right to deny the reference numbers. How is knowing what we paid for not in our interest? Here’s what Vickie Sharp wrote:
Per the Maryland Public Information Act Manual (18th ed., Oct. 2023) – § 4-343. IN GENERAL. Unless otherwise provided by law, if a custodian believes that inspection of a part of a public record by the applicant would be contrary to the public interest, the custodian may deny inspection by the applicant of that part of the record, as provided in this part.
Ms. Sharp is one of these “public servants” whose salary is paid for by the taxpayers of Oxford. She apparently is also a self-proclaimed gatekeeper of public information.
More from Rensberger’s email:
This is totally outrageous. Shouldn’t the taxpayers of Oxford, the people paying the Visa bills, have the right to know what is being purchased on our credit cards by the staff who don’t live in Oxford or pay taxes? Dear Commissioners and Lyndsey Ryan — this is insane. If Vickie Sharp is the custodian of these records I believe we need to find a different custodian. One that doesn’t block basic information.
Vickie Sharp doesn’t live in Oxford. She doesn’t pay taxes in Oxford and we’re paying her salary. Do the Commissioners actually think she, or anyone else in the Town office, has the right to keep Visa purchases from being known to the public? Let’s take a vote on this.
This is just one example of the run around that Oxford residents get when asking for information.
Public servants? Hardly. And, if you don’t think your town, county, state or country “public servants” don’t act the same, you are delusional. It’s reminiscent of what went on in the old U.S.S.R. under Communist rule.
In the old Soviet Union, bureaucrats, ministries and regional district local councils ran everything under the supervision of the Communist Party. These appointed officials jealously guarded the powers of their tiny little piece of bureaucratic turf and relished the idea of telling an ordinary citizen “No.” They made sure nothing happened that they didn’t approve either on their own or through their bosses above them. The citizen was the least of their concerns. Sound familiar?
This country was founded on a different idea that all citizens, regardless of their social status, economic status, political persuasion or ethnicity have the right to speak to their government and get answers to questions. That idea hasn’t changed.
What has changed is that we no longer have public servants running our local, county, state or national offices. What we have are the people who want to keep all the records, all the information, to themselves. They claim it’s too much work when in reality, answering the questions when they are asked would take much less time. They hide behind lawyers and try to intimidate citizens to give up and go away. More important, they seem devoted to hiding information from the very people who have a right to that information, the taxpayers, the public servants’ bosses.
It’s time to remind these people who they REALLY work for.
Maybe it’s time the public servants remember that as well.
SPECIAL NOTE: For all the truly dedicated public servants out there who bust their behinds every day to help people, we know you are out there. We know you are police, fire fighters, first responders, etc. We know there are some administrative staff out there as well. We thank you.
Jan Greenhawk, Author
