Tuesday, March 24, 1998

Local visits help put human face on government

It's a cliche of modern American life that our government is a nameless, faceless, far-off manipulator that we have no contact with, let alone influence over. But in Abilene recently, we've seen signs that some government officials are trying to close this credibility gap and put themselves in direct contact with the public they are meant to serve.

Last Friday, for example, Linda Cloud, the new executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission, was in Abilene to meet with local retailers and hear their concerns in person.

During her brief tenure, Cloud has already earned the respect of state legislators who have praised her for bringing stability to a troubled agency that had a rather rocky year in 1997. It would have been a lot easier for Cloud to sit in her comfortable Austin office than to take a bumpy flight to Abilene on a windy day and spend the afternoon listening to gripes and complaints and questions straight from the employees who sell lottery tickets. Nobody made her come to Abilene. She just felt it was the appropriate thing to do.

Last month, Abilene was visited by Elizabeth Julian, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development's representative for the Southwest. Julian spent a day touring local sites that benefit from HUD funding, explaining new HUD budget proposals to Abilenians who might be affected and answering questions, such as what kind of guidelines apply to using federal Community Development Block Grants for operational costs of local nonprofit agencies.

These were both rather low-profile events, not blockbuster front-page news. And two visits don't automatically restore our long-lost faith in government's credibility. But such incremental positive steps help ordinary taxpayers put a human face on a government that is often perceived as distant and uncaring.

It's also worth noting that communities the size of Abilene are not usually high on the list of sites for state and federal officials to acknowledge with their presence. We welcome our two recent visitors and their entourages and hope this is a trend other public servants will follow.