{"id":1680,"date":"2011-08-03T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/when-officials-act-like-they-are-hiding-something-they-usually-are-vdt.html"},"modified":"2011-08-03T08:34:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T12:34:00","slug":"when-officials-act-like-they-are-hiding-something-they-usually-are-vdt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/when-officials-act-like-they-are-hiding-something-they-usually-are-vdt.html","title":{"rendered":"When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are. —VDT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Go VDT!
\nThere are so many potential applications of today’s
\neditorial<\/a> in the Valdosta Daily Times,
\nfrom animals, to prisons, to zoning code enforcement, to biomass:<\/p>\n

\nBut there are still those who don\u2019t understand the purpose of
\na newspaper, and it\u2019s clearly not to be a marketing tool for the
\ncommunity. In addition to reporting the news of the day, a newspaper\u2019s
\njob as a member of the \u201cfourth estate,\u201d so deemed by Thomas Jefferson,
\nis to hold public officials accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n“When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are.”\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

To The Times and its editorial board, it\u2019s far worse for the
\ncommunity\u2019s image to have public officials knowingly lie, illegally
\nwithhold public documents and try to bully those who are only after
\nthe truth.<\/p>\n

\nWhen officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are. You
\ncan\u2019t be accused of lying if you don\u2019t lie. You won\u2019t receive an
\nopen-records request if you answer questions honestly and in accordance
\nwith the law.<\/p>\n

\nCompanies looking to settle in a community are understanding when it
\ncomes to crime, as it happens everywhere. But far more interesting to
\nthem is the honesty and integrity of the community\u2019s officials.<\/p>\n

\nIf an entity will lie and withhold information from the local news media
\nand the citizens, why would industry expect any different?<\/p>\n

\nThere was an old game show called Truth or Consequences. Too often, some
\nentities ignore the truth and are surprised by the consequences. Sadly,
\nthe public too often feels the consequences when it could use a little
\ntruth.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now let’s see them apply the same standard to CUEE<\/a>,
\nor can the VDT not see through the bogus claims of an organization it supports?<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go VDT! There are so many potential applications of today’s editorial in the Valdosta Daily Times, from animals, to prisons, to zoning code enforcement, to biomass: But there are still those who don\u2019t understand the purpose of a newspaper, and it\u2019s clearly not to be a marketing tool for the community. In addition to reporting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,324,120,48,40,1376,15,3982,3305,72,2583,733,21,22,3,133],"tags":[8699,8799,8700,8742],"class_list":["post-1680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-animals","category-biomass","category-code-enforcement","category-community","category-cuee","category-education","category-foxborough","category-fvcs","category-incarceration","category-mcdonalds","category-media","category-planning","category-politics","category-transparency","category-vdt","tag-government","tag-media","tag-transparency","tag-vdt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}