The Obligations Of The Public Servant Page: 3 of 16
This text is part of the collection entitled: The Barbara C. Jordan Archives and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas Southern University.
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2
I believe that Public Service is a calling. This belief is based
on the uncommon requirements of the designation of Public Servant.
Uncommon because those requirements appear to fly in the face of
humankind's basic nature. The public manager, Paul Appleby, once
said that only public servants must always act in the public interest.
That is, the public servant must never yield to special pleading evenif his personal interest is adversely affected.
(I probably should add
most assuredly if our personal/individual interest is involved.)
We
are born with an acquisitive nature wanting to keep and protect
what belongs to us and this natural bent is only ameliorated after
much socialization. The Public Servant must suppress that feeling
and act in the public interest for the common good. If the holder
of the Public Trust is unwilling to deny self, he/she must pursue
another field of action. What if all putative public servants held
this view, always act in the public interest. There would be no
Keating five. i.e. Cranston, DeConcini, Glenn, Riegle, McCain (as in
the five United States Senators who intervened on behalf of Charles
Keating in the savings and loan debacle.)Al
_
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Jordan, Barbara C. The Obligations Of The Public Servant, text, May 31, 1990; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth595425/m1/3/?q=%22%5B1990..%5D%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas Southern University.