Watch CBS News

Keller @ Large: Stop Treating Taxpayers Like Mushrooms

BOSTON (CBS) - It's time for a little reminder of an important fact about the people who run our government – they work for us, you and me. We pay their salaries.

They are sworn to serve us.

So is it ok with you that your employees refuse to share important information about the work you're paying them to do?

I say no, it isn't.

But two local stories over the weekend show how some of our alleged public servants just don't get it, or even worse, they do get it but think they're above the rules.

Let's start up in Salem Superior Court, where the Newburyport News reports two women are pleading guilty to a host of charges in connection with a long-running stolen credit card scam that cost its victims more than $160,000.

But Judge Timothy Feeley has decided that, as the News puts it, "not only do the women not have to pay restitution but they will receive suspended jail terms of 2 1/2 years, to be served only if they violate the terms of their probation."

This dubious call demands an explanation, especially since one of the women showed up at the courthouse sporting high-end shoes and accessories, but don't hold your breath waiting for the judge to explain.

With few exceptions, they think they should never have to.

And then there's the troubling saga of Suffolk County Register of Probate Felix Arroyo, an elected official suspended with pay due to "serious deficiencies" in his oversight of that important agency, but neither the state Trial Court nor Arroyo's lawyers will explain what the charges are.

Ask yourself: who do these people think they are?

And why do they insist on treating the taxpayers like mushrooms – kept in the dark, and fed a bunch of fertilizer?

Listen to Jon's commentary:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.