Blaming the Victim

After an especially poignant dope slap, the inimitable Curley Howard would sometimes times protest:

I’m a victim of coicumstance!

Forcibly departed Amherst ex-superintendent Alberto Rodriguez will soon fade from the memory of most Amherstites, but one of his protestations deserves special treatment. It's worthy, I think, of Bartlett’s:

I'm a victim of transparency!

That was in response to the avid villagers who publicly rummaged through the news of his 40 days away from his $175,000 job between last August and the end of April.

When I last checked, transparency was a virtue--in the accountability of well-paid public servants, the financial records of publicly traded businesses, and the aspirations of aspiring water borders. Not that Mr. Rodriguez was a miscreant, but that he was, for the sake of the town, accountable--sooner rather than later.