Just say it

From the U-T about Sanders taking a salary and not telling anyone:


Sanders said he's not apologetic at all for taking the full pay, especially when he's putting a daughter through college.

“I'm not wealthy,” Sanders said. “I'm just like everybody else. I've got to make ends meet.”

Sanders did not announce his salary change. His spokesman, Darren Pudgil, revealed it in response to questions by The San Diego Union-Tribune about raises that were considered Monday for the mayor and City Council. The council rejected the increases.

Asked why he didn't inform the public, Sanders said he didn't know how to address it because it didn't feel appropriate to hold a news conference or issue a
news release.

Judie Italiano, a spokeswoman for the white-collar Municipal Employees Association, the city's largest union with almost 4,700 members, said she neveragreed with Sanders' decision to take less money. She said he did it to get attention during a heated campaign.
“I think he realized what a thankless job it is and he should get paid for it,” Italiano said.

Lani Lutar, president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, said Sanders has a responsibility to keep the public informed. “If he changed his mind, the public deserves to know what led to the change in position,” she said. “It also raises credibility questions about what else might not be shared with the public.”


I’m with Lutar on this one. In not telling the taxpayers that pay him that he was receiving a salary because he didn’t know how doesn’t absolve him from the responsibility of informing the public. That’s like cheating on your mate and, when presented with the evidence, saying you wanted to tell them the truth but didn’t know how.

Instead, the press broke the story for him. This is not the way an elected official wants news about themselves to emerge but, in this case, he only has himself to blame.