When publicly elected or appointed government officials refuse to act according to law or they intentionally act outside the law, those same officials should hardly be surprised when the citizens who elected or appointed and trusted them choose to violate the law themselves to achieve desired and rightfully expected accountability.

On March 8, 1971, a group of citizens burglarized the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania.  They stole documents which showed the FBI had been conducting illegal surveillances and offensive counterintelligence operations against US citizens opposing the Vietnam war.  Rightly or wrongly, the citizens felt “…compelled to do something as ordinary citizens because no one in Washington was holding Hoover accountable.”

Here in an AlterNet article one of the Media burglars, Bonnie Raines, outlines why she and the others took such an extreme action.  The article is entitled Democracy Needs Whistleblowers – That’s Why I Broke Into the FBI in 1971.  A more detailed account of the burglary is in Betty Medsger’s book just released yesterday and entitled The Burglary – The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI.

According to Raines, only the Washington Post published the Media papers.  All the others chickened out until after the Post ran with it.  What would have happened if the Post had been similarly cowed by the fear of Hoover?  Is it fair to say that Congress would not have acted without the Post’s publishing admittedly stolen government documents?  When state and local governments refuse to rein in officially conducted illegal activity and hold offending officials accountable, should citizens engage in illegal actions the way the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI did in 1971?

The problem with putting people on pedestals is that eventually they fall off.

It is a very common and dangerous practice to pedestalize people based on their occupational choices.  We can think of nowhere that pedestalizing does more harm than in the law enforcement and fire services.  Presuming that somehow these sworn employees are more honorable, more honest, than those in other occupations can result in not only disappointment but also in willful ignorance or blatant denial of misconduct.  In the end, the misconduct retards rather than enhances the agencies’ competence.  Here are some examples:

80 From N.Y. Police and Fire Forces Are Charged in Social Security Fraud

L.A. County Sheriff Baca plans to retire, sources say

Investigation revisits Secret Service prostitution scandal

The Burglary – The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI

The Feds Let ‘Whitey’ Get Away with Murder

As long as the public is willing to continue to put people on pedestals based on their occupational choices, there will be those employees who abuse their lofty and nearly always very well-paying positions, rationalize their misconduct, and continue to disappoint the deniers.

Writing in the North Idaho Business Journal, Coeur d’Alene Press editor Mike Patrick speculated that Twin Falls must have a  “secret sauce” which has helped Twin Falls’ economy flourish.

Jan Rogers, Executive Director of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization (SIEDO), explained patiently to Patrick that,  “It’s not about the organization of a single community or a single person.  It’s everyone working together under one umbrella to present the best proposal for a project.”  It’s teamwork, Rogers said.

Rogers went on to say that the Twin Falls team has three important assets:  the College of Southern Idaho, urban renewal, and a group of legislators that speak with one voice for the economic benefit of the region.

But we here in north Idaho have a community college.  We have urban renewal.  We have legislators.  What does Twin Falls have that we in Coeur d’Alene don’t?  Does Twin Falls really have some secret? (more…)