✍️ Writing About Government—and Why Public Service Still Matters
A reflection shaped by work on both sides of the press desk—as public institutions come under increased political attack.
After President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, I found myself thinking about my own years inside government.
In 2025, Trump—often alongside Elon Musk—moved aggressively to dismantle or discredit federal agencies and public institutions, arguing that government is bloated, ineffective, or unnecessary. I disagree with much of what I’ve heard, not out of reflex or partisanship but from experience.
Fifteen years ago today, I retired after more than three decades working in local government communications. Before that, I worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer, and editor, covering local government from the outside.
I made an intentional decision to move from reporting on government to working within it.
As a journalist, I tried to help readers understand how their schools and cities worked. Later, inside government, I worked in communications for public transit and wastewater treatment—first for the former Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, then for King County after a merger. My roles included news media relations, employee communications, publications editing, speechwriting, website management, and eventually leading service information for Metro Transit.
Some of the work was routine. Some was technical. Some was highly visible. None of it was glamorous. But it mattered.
From the outside, I learned to be skeptical—as journalists should be. From the inside, I learned something equally important: Most of the people working in government are trying to do their jobs well.
They are planners, engineers, mechanics, operators, accountants, customer-service representatives, environmental scientists, communications staff, and many others. They show up every day to keep buses running, treat wastewater, manage budgets, maintain infrastructure, respond to public records requests, and answer questions from confused or frustrated residents.
Is every public employee outstanding? Of course not. Government is made up of human beings. Imperfection exists in every profession.
But after years inside the system, I can say this with confidence: The sweeping claims that government workers are lazy, incompetent, or unnecessary are simply wrong.
They reflect misunderstanding at best—and deliberate misrepresentation at worst.
One of the most sobering changes I saw over the years was not inside government but in journalism.
When I first worked in media relations in the early 1980s, multiple daily newspapers and radio stations had beat reporters who regularly covered Metro and King County. They understood the agencies. They followed the budgets. They knew the players. They asked informed questions.
When I returned to media relations years later, the landscape had changed. There were fewer newspapers. Fewer reporters. Less sustained coverage of how government runs. Stories focused more on controversy and conflict and less on process, planning, and decision-making.
That shift has consequences.
When people mostly hear about government in moments of crisis or dispute, they lose sight of the thousands of daily tasks that quietly serve the public. They don’t see the steady work needed to maintain systems that most of us depend on without thinking about them.
Public trust erodes in that vacuum.
I do not romanticize government. I worked long enough to know it can be bureaucratic, slow, and frustrating. I also saw how political agendas shape narratives about public institutions.
But I also saw dedicated public servants collaborating across departments, solving practical problems, and producing publications and websites that helped residents understand what their government was doing and how to engage with it.
As I approached retirement, a colleague summarized my career this way: You helped people learn about, understand, influence, and use their government services.
That description still feels right.
Journalism and government communication serve different roles—and should. When each is done responsibly, both help the public understand how decisions are made, how systems function, and how citizens can engage with them.
Democracy depends not only on elections and political debate but also on competent administration and informed citizens.
Local government is where that becomes tangible. It is where buses run or don’t run. Where wastewater is treated or pollutes waterways. Where public records are provided or withheld. Where budgets are balanced or mismanaged. Where public information is clear or confusing.
It is not abstract.
After seeing government from both sides of the press desk, I am still what I once called a realistic optimist. Institutions are imperfect because people are imperfect. But they can work—and often do—when staffed and led by people who take their responsibilities seriously.
Public service is not the enemy of a free society. It is one of the ways a free society organizes itself to function.
If we want a government that works well, we should demand accountability—and recognize competence, integrity, and the public needs government is meant to meet.
That is what I learned.
And that is why public service still matters.
