While strongly defending his actions in the press, Coler also acknowledged that public perception was an Issue.
This line pretty much sums up the political reality of public management. Martinez is telling reporters that what looks like “bureaucratic comfort” can’t be defended if it clashes with public expectations. Even if a decision is technically allowed or operationally convenient, it can still look wrong.
him for acquiring a full-size car for official use, instead of the subcompact required under s...:te law, and for using it to drive from his home to work (Coler, the Times wrote, did not own his own car)
This car detail is a classic public management optics problem. A big theme is that agencies run on legitimacy and trust, not just results. A full-size car instead of the legally required subcompact is a small thing, but it signals rule-bending and privilege.
Once HRS was under a scandal spotlight, people interpreted everyday choices in the most negative way. That’s basic organizational behavior: attribution bias. Instead of seeing a situational explanation, observers treat it as a character issue. In a crisis, these easy-to-picture “compliance” stories stick more than complicated program wins.
This car detail is a classic public management optics problem. A big theme is that agencies run on legitimacy and trust, not just results. A full-size car instead of the legally required subcompact is a small thing, but it signals rule-bending and privilege.
Once HRS was under the scandal spotlight, people interpreted everyday choices in the most negative way. That’s basic organizational behavior: attribution bias. Instead of seeing a situational explanation, observers treated it as a character issue. In a crisis, these easy-to-picture “compliance” stories stick more than complicated program wins.
Yet the favorable view of Coler and his agency changed abruptly in the wake of a notorious and fatal incident of child abuse in which HRS appeared culpable. In the view of Coler and other observers of his administration, the incident was a watershed, setting off a wave of criticism
This is the classic shift from “performance narrative” to “accountability narrative.” Once the child’s death becomes the frame, every normal administrative detail reads like evidence. It’s less about what’s objectively important and more about what feels symbolically damning in a crisis.