Posted: Saturday, January 12, 2008 12:00 am
What is this thing that public figures always say when they're "under investigation" for something or other? According to the Associated Press, they say what a lawyer for an Oregon state legislator wrote in a prepared statement this week: "Because it is a pending investigation, neither she nor I intend to comment on the merits."
This is the standard response when somebody in the public eye gets into trouble. And completely aside from whatever the facts nay be in this particular case, it's generally a response that doesn't help the person on whose behalf it is being made.
The only way a response along those lines makes any sense is if the public figure involved is guilty of something or has nothing to gain from the truth.
If that is the case, issuing denials would indeed be foolish because sooner or later they would be shown to be untrue. And if the person is unwilling to confess, then shutting up may seem better than lying.
But if the person is confident that he or she has done nothing wrong, a better response would be: "Yes, some investigators came around to talk to me about some dealings I have had. (And here it would be useful to be specific.) I answered all their questions truthfully to the best of my ability and recollection. I told the truth, and I do not believe I have done anything wrong. And just in case you reporters are interested, let me tell you what they quizzed me about and what the facts are."
That would be followed by a detailed account - by the person who's under a cloud - of just exactly what the situation is or was.
That kind of response would generate confidence that the person - public official or private citizen - did indeed have nothing to hide. Forthright candor like that would dispel any suspicions that the person was shading the truth, and it would send a message that the investigators were barking up the wrong tree.
In the alternative - suppose the person actually had done something wrong - consider the wholesome effect of an equally candid response:
"Yes, you heard right, they are are investigating me for something, and here's the story … I now think I did a wrong thing, and that's what I told the FBI when they quizzed me the other day."
Regardless of the circumstances, it's hard to see how a full and honest public statement in response to rumors or accusations could ever hurt the person on whom the spotlight of publicity fell.
Nobody really believes the people who say they can't comment because they don't want to interfere with a pending investigation, or who say they have to stay mum in order to give the "process" a chance to work.
That always sounds like an evasion. It sounds that way because most people know there's no way that making an honest statement by the person under suspicion could ever hamper an investigation.
All it could do is speed up the work of the investigators and bring the controversy to an early conclusion - not just an early conclusion, but an honorable one as well.
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