Expense accounts can assure objectivity
Expense accounts can assure objectivity
0 Comments | Manawatu Standard; Palmerston North, New Zealand, Jul 21, 2010
The superficial analysis of recent central and local government expense scandals by the likes of Mark Sainsbury, John Campbell, and tabloid media fails to address the up side of expense accounts in fortifying public servants’ objectivity when representing the public interest.
A free lunch, ticket to the rugby or round of drinks is accepted by most with an implicit debt of gratitude attached, which is exactly why hospitality is heaped upon buyers, gatekeepers, influencers, and decision makers by those courting favour.
When we challenge the appropriateness of a minister picking up the tab for, say, a couple of bottles of wine on the parliamentary credit card, we forget the cost of allowing the other party to pick up that tab may prove more expensive for the taxpayer in the long-term.
Whether it is a local publican shouting a city councillor a round of drinks, a property developer shouting a mayor lunch, or a tobacco multi-national dishing out free rugby league tickets to MPs, it is more appropriate for the public to pick up the tab than to leave any question that there is an un-discharged debt of gratitude remaining on the table.
The media would perform more of a public service keeping a steady and vigilant eye on the tabs that the private sector is paying on behalf of those in public office than the nit- picking, tell-tale tabloid obsession with expense accounts we have seen in recent months
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