Talk about lousy optics — and I am not referring to out-of-style eyeglasses. Public perception is the topic for today.
There were a couple of recent news nuggets that illustrate in different ways an uncomfortable fact of life in Iowa — that too many state and local government officials are *not* comfortable with the public looking over their shoulders as they perform their official duties.
One case overflowing with irony involves the Des Moines County Board of Supervisors. The other involves State Treasurer Roby Smith.
I have been tracking issues like these since the earliest days of my newspaper career. Among the first watchdog stories I wrote involved a county supervisor who arranged to sell a county tractor to his son without any public bids.
Research studies and polls show the tax-paying public believes in the importance of government business being conducted in public, not in secret. Research also shows the public appreciates the work done by two-legged watchdogs, like journalists and concerned citizens, who attend government board and council meetings and shine the spotlight on how tax money is spent.