What do we want from our elected officials?

Reading Jason Shephard's excellent "Robarts Gets The Treatment" made me think about what we should expect from our elected officials.

Here are my initial thoughts:

• Act Professionally
  Debate is essential to our form of government. Our elected leaders should engage in and value substantive debate. Nothing engages the public more than this type of dialogue.
  
  
• Use Data to Make Decisions
  There's a reason that the CBO (Congressional Budget Office), and LAB (Legislative Audit Bureau) exist
  
  
• Communicate: Tell the Whole Story
  Use the internet to converse with constituents.
  
  
• Ask Tough Questions
  

Ruth Robarts and Kathleen Falk seem to be two local elected officials who are willing to challenge the status quo. Shephard is correct when he refers to Robarts as "Public Ally Number 1"

I consider Russ Feingold to be nearly a perfect politician. He's idealist, yet has classic political abilities. He's also very smart. Idealist in terms of compaign finance and local communications, political in terms of timely, political votes (NRA and Tax Giveaway) and smart (debates: where he shows that he knows the game very well). To his credit, he's always willing to chat and ask questions. I'm interested in hearing your views. Click comments and write.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 14, 2004 10:14 PM
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