Sunday, December 30, 2007

SOUND OFF: THE ANONYMOUS TRUTH

My readers agree with the writer who believes that, if the Boston City Council candidate who sent out anonymous literature about a rival candidate days before the election "lacked the spine to make the accusation openly, he lacks the character for public office."

"I wouldn't trust anyone who made anonymous comments," writes another reader, who chose to remain anonymous. "It's deceptive. Did he win?"

He did win. But, since it was an election in which the top four candidates won office, his rival also won. Should make for some interesting council meetings! (See Boston City Council candidate John Connolly acknowledges issuing ... and Analysts try to explain Boston's lowest poll turnout in years ...)

Check out other opinions at SOUND OFF: THE ANONYMOUS TRUTH, or post your own by clicking on "comments" or "post a comment" below.

Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today's Business and The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart, is an associate professor at Emerson College in Boston, where he teaches writing and ethics. He is also the administrator of The Right Thing, a Web log focused on ethical issues.

Do you have ethical questions that you need answered? Send them to rightthing@nytimes.com or to "The Right Thing," The New York Times Syndicate, 500 Seventh Avenue, 8th floor, New York, NY 10018. Please remember to tell me who you are, where you're from, as well as where you read

c.2007 The New York Times Syndicate (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

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