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Their votes are public. Why do you need to see their conversations?

• woodruffw 4y ago
  Because we generally hold elected officials (and public servants, more generally) to a higher standard of behavior. Apply the Nixon test: should the public have been given access to the tapes that conclusively established Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate break-in? Most people think yes, despite them being “just” conversations.
  • bluGill 4y ago
    What if Nixon hadn't recorded his conversations at all though? What if spies had wiretapped his office and recorded it? Those are important nuances to consider as well and different people will change their answer with those changes even though all 3 cases we have potential access to his conversations.
    • woodruffw 4y ago
      This is a weird tangent: how do spies introduce nuance into whether public servants are subject to the public’s interest?
  • kneebonian 4y ago
    > Because we generally hold elected officials (and public servants, more generally) to a higher standard of behavior Do we? We've got a guy named Wiener that has been involved in multiple sex scandals and is still in office, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
    • Jtsummers 4y ago
      > Do we? We've got a guy named Wiener that has been involved in multiple sex scandals and is still in office, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Unless there's a second one, he's been out of office since 2011. There are probably examples of what you describe, but he isn't one of them.
    • woodruffw 4y ago
      Every single part of this is wrong: Anthony Weiner isn’t in office, has not been in office in over a decade, and literally went to prison for his crimes. He’s a convicted sex offender and decidedly a private citizen.