Bisbee Times: "You asked for it."

When you run for office in a democracy you promise two things. The first is to get the job done. The second is to hand yourself over.

That second promise is a doozy. It means that as a public official you agree to hand yourself over for a period  of time, a time that extends from when you announce until long after you leave office, making yourself available for all kinds of questioning, criticism, suggestions, abuse, and so forth.

It's a vital part of the American democracy. By handing yourself over you don't get to limit criticism to the polite, the well thought out, or the considered criticism.

You have to take it all, the good, the bad, the unfair, and the, well, loony. I can tell you, no matter what anyone says, that part of being an elected official isn't fun.

When an elected official complains, even mildly, about unfair criticism, nearly everyone immediately says: "You asked for it!" They are referring to the second promise, the promise to hand yourself over.

Most people want nothing to do with running for office precisely because of that second promise.

People who run for Congress or even the state legislature or county supervisors can avoid lot of the attacks by hiding behind staff or because their offices are not easily reached. It isn't all that easy to reach a member of Congress to register a complaint and give them a piece of your mind.

But local politics is different and local politics in Bisbee is really different on just this point.

The two newspapers in Bisbee are so awful that they mostly ignore the issue of what you promise to do and whether you have done it. Instead, they pay attention to the second promise.

Neither paper has an editorial page devoted to setting the record straight. No matter how stupid and unproven the attacks on people in office or on city staff, the reporters duly serve it up.

Personal attacks in print and especially in the letters to the editors sell newspapers.

I'll say it again: Bisbee needs a good newspaper more than it needs a good mayor.

So if anyone is thinking about running for office: remember that second promise: You asked for it.