An important reminder from south of the border about damage control and crisis communications: Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do.

Witness Senator Joni Ernst, who made a dismissive comment at a public meeting about medicare cuts, then made matters far worse with an “apology” video, riddled with sarcasm and attempts at humour. It failed. As the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practice document reminds us, sarcasm is a delicate instrument and should be used sparingly.

In my experience, getting a politician to do nothing is an extremely difficult task. Elected officials want to be seen to be doing things. Overall, that can be a virtue; except when the thing you pick to do makes matters far worse.

For those interested, the whole story can be more fully explored at the link below, which will take you to an excellent column by New York Times opinion writer Michelle Cottle. As Cottle wisely points out, when you do something incredibly stupid or insensitive in the public arena, best not to highlight that mistake:

And Cottle also explores something I’ve been thinking about for a while: Why is it that many of our elected officials seem constitutionally incapable of delivering a sincere apology?

There have been many examples in Saskatchewan politics of elected officials trying to control the damage, only to make matters worse. The one that immediately comes to mind is a former finance minister, who flew to a luncheon instead of driving. It’s a story that would have died in hours through inattention. However, the powerful desire to fix things overcame reason and experience. If your only excuse was “I was exhausted”, just stay in your office.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-finance-minister-says-she-won-t-apologize-for-8k-chartered-flight-1.6525318: Don’t just do something, stand there:

I suspect the long term political consequences for Joni Ernst will be minimal. The good people of Iowa elected her in 2014 with over 52 percent of the vote, flipping the seat from Democratic to Republican.

But it does offer a reminder to elected officials with less secure margins of victory: Sometimes less is more. And if you do want to apologize, make sure you don’t make matters worse.

And remember the communications advice from Sir Humphry Appleby in Yes Minister: Don’t just do something, stand there.