Few foibles embarrass politicians as much as the revelation that they failed to vote.

We understand why this is so.

The hypocrisy is so rich that it’s practically irresistible for media pundits.

Sure, candidate A. You want me to vote for you. Do as I say, not as I don’t, right?

A few weeks ago Chris Dudley, the former Portland Trail Blazer who’s running for Oregon governor as a Republican, publicly apologized after The Oregonian reported that he had failed to vote in seven of the past 13 elections for which he was eligible.

In a nod to fairness, the Portland newspaper followed that report by publishing the voting records of the other gubernatorial candidates.

Of the six major candidates, only one — Democrat Bill Bradbury — had voted in every possible election since 1994.

Although we think candidates’ voting records should be reported, we caution voters against making too much of the matter.

Turns out you don’t need to be a driver to benefit from the stimulus package that President Obama signed almost a year ago amid great fanfare about how the bill was going to smooth the nation’s potholed highway system.

In fact you don’t even need to be human.

Horses are getting a leg up from all those billions, too.

Actually they’ll get to keep their legs down.

A tiny fraction of the federal largess — $1.6 million — was sent to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest to do the basic tasks necessary to keep backcountry hiking and horseback trails passable.

Specifically, passable to people (and horses) who don’t enjoy clambering over fallen trees or detouring around washouts.

The Wallowa-Whitman certainly can use the money.

The recent rash of GPS acolytes getting stuck on snowbound Oregon back roads has prompted a predictable flurry of precautionary advice.

This is a good thing.

It’s always appropriate to remind travelers that although orbiting satellites can tell you precisely where you are, they can’t turn your SUV into a sleigh.

To put it another way, even the most sophisticated microprocessor is awfully stupid when put up against a human brain.

If your GPS tells you to keep going but your eyes insist that you’ll bog down in the bumper-high drift just ahead, trust your eyes.

Many commentators recommend drivers bring a paper map. That’s wise, but it’s not a panacea.

After all, if the map shows the same road that the GPS plots you on, then the traveler who has a map might be more likely to make a dangerous decision than is the traveler who has only a GPS.

It’s pretty hard to make two-by-fours out of a standing tree, after all.

Recently a land trust on the Olympic Peninsula “sold” the carbon stored in its trees, and in exchange agreed not to cut those trees.

A non-profit financial institution bought the carbon to offset its carbon dioxide emissions for the next three years.

The basic concept here is valid. Trees do absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

What’s fallacious is the notion that only untouched forests sequester carbon.

Less than two days from now the government will intrude even further into our lives.

Finally.

Oregon’s ban on using a handheld cell phone while driving takes effect Friday.

We don’t doubt this law will save lives.

But that’s not, per se, the reason we endorse it.

Oregon laws that require motorcyclists to wear helmets, and car drivers and passengers to wear seat belts, save lives, too.

Christmas is near and we have snow, which is as it should be.

It is in the main old snow, though, and rather threadbare.

The beauty of newfallen snow is of course ephemeral. This is especially so in the cities, even modestly sized ones like our own, where it is quickly shoveled and plowed and pounded to slush by passing tires.

Few sights seem to us as sad as a mound of grimy snow piled at the far corner of a parking lot.

That scene could serve as a symbol for 2009.

It has been a difficult year for our country and our state and our county.

Unemployment statistics say we have locally weathered the recession better than many other parts of Oregon and the nation.

Which is not to say we have been immune.

When you have a problem with credit cards, the simplest solution involves a strong wrist and a sharp pair of scissors.

We’re not advocating quite such a drastic measure for the Baker School District’s collection of plastic.

But we agree with the district’s financial auditor that the district should, at least temporarily, stop allowing employees to use credit cards even for valid school-related purchases.

Here’s why:

Even after being admonished by a different auditor two years ago, some district employees have continued to use credit cards without turning in receipts or otherwise documenting that their purchases were appropriate.

“You have a policy, but it’s not being consistently applied,” the district’s current auditor, Robert Armstrong of John Day, told the school board last week.

It’s important to point out that the auditor’s findings fall well short of a scandal.

The accountants found no evidence that anyone committed fraud.

Problem is, the lack of receipts or other documentation can make it pretty hard for auditors to figure out whether a purchase was authorized.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has vastly more faith in the power of legislation than we have.

There’s ample reason, in any case, to be skeptical about certain claims Wyden and others are making regarding the forest management bill the senator introduced last week.

It’s called the Oregon Eastside Forests Restoration, Old Growth Protection and Jobs Act.

Wyden was right to list jobs last.

We don’t doubt that the bill, if it becomes law, will protect old growth trees and help to restore ailing national forests east of the Cascades.

Indeed, such measures are the predominant theme in the legislation.

We’re not at all sure, though, that the bill will create many jobs.

Nor are we confident that the bill will revive the region’s timber industry by spurring, as Wyden said in a press release, “a significant and sustainable increase in harvest” of lumber-ready trees from the six eastside national forests. That list includes the Wallowa-Whitman, based in Baker City.

We applaud any effort by government officials to ensure that Oregon’s public records and public meetings laws fulfill their noble goal: to make it as easy as possible for people to see what city, county and state agencies are up to.

To that end, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger recently appointed an attorney to serve as the state’s public records “chief.”

Kroger did the right thing.

But we’re not convinced that his decision will truly make it easier for citizens to understand the workings of their government.

The reason for our skepticism is that the public records chief, according to Kroger, will handle major requests for records kept by state agencies.

Which is fine, except most of the records we’re interested in — and that many people want to see — have to do with cities and counties, not the state.