Some are more equal

The tradeoff of public sector work has generally amounted to this: lousy pay, good benefits. And the benefits side of that equation has long been construed to mean a nice pension, reasonable work hours and the like. Now, thanks to the Orange County Register, we’ve come to learn of another, in this case hidden, perk of public work: immunity from parking tickets, toll charges and even traffic violations.

Some nifty reporting by our Orange County rivals turned up more than 900,000 vehicles in California whose records are deemed confidential under state law. That allows drivers of those vehicles to breeze through toll stations or park in red zones. They get cited like everyone else, but because their addresses are confidential, they never get the tickets. So they drive along, racking up bills and ignoring them without consequence. Recognizing the freedom this gives a driver, some employee groups have even negotiated for the perk as part of their contracts.

We can understand why the recipients of this little state gift enjoy receiving it. Who wouldn’t? But we live in an era in which officials high and low are working overtime to exempt themselves from the law. The vice president of the United States memorably insisted that he was not part of the executive branch and thus was exempt from its disclosure requirements. Los Angeles’ police chief convened a panel to study the policies of the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics unit, then refused to share its findings (a refusal undermined by the leak of the report). Police officers and their unions are resisting the idea that they must release their names and badge numbers to the public, notwithstanding that the law requires them to wear both on their uniforms. Public hospitals regularly accept taxpayer money, then refuse to answer questions that would reveal whether they are providing adequate care for their patients. Those claims of privacy by public agencies and officials have become so routine that they often go unchallenged. Together, they amount to a disturbing recalibration of public accountability.

The confidential car registrations don’t have the wallop of shoddy medical care or the perversity of the vice president’s claims, but they add a new layer to the large and growing problem of public officials happily collecting tax money and then insisting that they’re bound by different rules than the taxpayers. Public employees deserve good pensions and better pay, not immunity from the law.