Allow me to take a moment to divert your attention from all the chaotic political ads. Take some time to step away from the shocking sound bites of politicians vying for their 8 seconds of fame on the nightly news. And if I may deflect from all the dysfunction of government, I’d like to present a topic that’s rather boring.

And the fact that it’s boring is what makes it rather interesting.

May I present to you State Auditor Mike Foley and Lancaster County Treasurer Rachel Garver.

Mike Foley is not Mr. Excitement. You’re not going to have the media shocked at something he says. You’re not ever going to go to a Mike Foley rally and shout and cheer and spend money on souvenir swag. You’ll go broke if you try to sell Mike Foley red hats.

No, Mike Foley is quite honestly rather boring. He’s just a man in government who does his job. And he does it well.

Mr. Foley is in charge of making sure our tax dollars are spent appropriately. He’s the man who uncovered the 2.5 million dollar no-bid contract that Governor Pillen gave to his good friend.

But that’s small potatoes to what he’s discovered now.

In an audit of Lancaster County, the auditor’s office found about one billion dollars of misappropriated funds.

Now it would be more scandalous if these funds were embezzled or stolen. It would be a bigger story if that money was appropriated to political cronies or spent on anything illegal.

No, it’s just that Lancaster County tax dollars went to different departments than they were supposed to. Nothing nefarious or suspicious. Just a clerical error. According to this audit, the state was owed about $1.3 million that it didn’t get.

And as if that wasn’t boring enough, here’s where it gets really dull. The Lancaster County Treasurer, who’s in charge of the county money, is a Democrat, and Mike Foley is a Republican. In his report, Mike Foley praised Rachel Garver’s office for being cooperative with the audit, and Rachael Garver thanked Mike Foley for bringing it to her attention.

Rachel Garver didn’t accuse Mike Foley of instigating a political witch hunt. Mike Foley didn’t accuse Garver of making these mistakes just because she’s a Democrat.

No, it was two public servants doing their job and utilizing the checks and balances that are put into the system.

In today’s world of politics, this is the stuff that will put people to sleep.

But that’s what makes this so refreshing.

This isn’t about good politics. It’s about good governing.

If Mike Foley were playing a political game, he could have very easily made this a political issue.

He might not have brought the governor’s abuse of power to the public’s attention either. He could have just buried it in a report that never saw the light of day. This Republican might have even been able to stop the audit from being completed when the evidence was something that made the Republican governor look bad.

But right is right and wrong is wrong regardless of whether someone puts an “R” or a “D” after their name.

In future columns, I know I’ll write more about the claims and attacks that one side is doing towards the other side this election cycle. I’ll write about the Ricketts vs. Osborn, the Pillen vs. Walz, and the Powell vs. Harding races. Those races will have more interesting topics.

I’ll probably also warn against electing an election denier to run our elections. And if I have the time and space available, I’ll probably bitch about a never-ending war, $4 gas, and the rising cost of food, shelter, and medicine.

All those topics are important and deserving of our attention. All those topics will generate a more emotional response in the reader. And quite honestly, in many cases, all those topics will be much easier to write.

But with all the chaos and turmoil in government these days, I felt compelled to write about something that isn’t controversial. Something that won’t go viral on social media. Something that should just be expected.

Elected officials who will do their job without worrying about the political consequences. Elected officials who are more concerned with doing the boring work of governing than getting reelected.

So, kudos to Mike Foley and Rachel Garver. Two public servants from both sides of the political aisle who found a mistake and worked to correct it.

It’s time to make boring government commonplace again.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.