(Editor's Notes by Christina Myer - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Ever had a co-worker who was clearly looking to score points with the boss by repeatedly bragging that they had “accomplished” something that was just the job they were expected to be getting done anyway? Worse, have you ever had one who brazenly took credit for the work of someone else — worried less about who would notice than about who they might be able to fool?

It’s usually irritating and obvious — sometimes to the point that we call it out. Of course, good bosses aren’t fooled by that sort of thing.

It’s a trick too many politicians have adopted, however; and the boss they’re trying to fool is US.

From the second they take office, they’re looking for announcements to make that are the result not of their own efforts, but of those who have been working diligently for years — sometimes even from the other political party.

The taxpayer-funded gas mileage accumulates and little podium signs go up without a political campaign ever having to pay a penny. Because, of course, this credit-taking can’t come from Charleston. It’s got to come from all the same places that will be on formal campaign stops in a year or two when that person’s next ambitions are made clear.

Lest you think I’m targeting one politician, I’m not. It seems most of them are using this tactic these days. And it’s easy to say “But Jim Justice got away with it!”

Well. Sort of. Voters noticed it then, too. And frankly, he knew darned well Babydog made the whole thing a lot more palatable. But using the two-wrongs-make-a-right strategy is even more reason for voters to cringe.

It hasn’t been all that long ago that politicians in Charleston were getting in trouble for shamelessly using their elected office and public money to fund a campaign. It turns out the real crime back then was not being sneaky enough about it, apparently.

And memories are short.

For many in West Virginia, memory barely stretches back to the beginnings of the wave Republicans rode into office in 2014, breaking an 80-year streak for Democrats mainly on the promise of not behaving the way they accused the Democrats of having behaved.

Over and over again, politicians swore to voters that their primary goal would be rooting out fraud, waste and abuse — under the pretense that it was the other guys who had been at fault all this time.

More than a decade later, it seems beginning the next political campaign while having the advantage of being able to use the springboard of a taxpayer-funded office to travel to all corners of the state for announcements is neither waste nor abuse to these folks.

It doesn’t matter what they think of it, though. We’ve got to remember it matters what WE think of it.

Do we allow them to believe we are willing to look the other way, or to be so easily fooled? Or do we remind them they work for us? Their own political ambitions must be far lower priorities than getting done the job we expect of THEM.

Given that most of them are unlikely to adjust their behavior any time soon, be vigilant. When an announcement is made, think critically about who, what department, or which branch of government should be getting credit. And, later, vote accordingly.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com.