Note to Escondido City Council members Sam Abed, Olga Diaz and Marie Waldron: Save the self-righteous demands for an apology from the mayor until after you pass a city budget.

Last week's very public indignation-fest looks an awful lot like a smoke screen designed to deflect voters' attention from the fact that between them, Abed, Diaz and Waldron have all the votes they need to pass a new budget. And their silly threat to vote to censure Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler over her equally public accusation that the three are kowtowing to their political backers in the police union is a ridiculous waste of time: They can't be bothered to pass a budget, but they can find the time to vote on a resolution with absolutely zero legal ramifications? That might not be the best example of setting priorities.

Anyway, whatever one thinks of the mayor's shoot-from-the-lip approach to political spats, Abed, Diaz and Waldron ultimately have only themselves to blame. There's an old canard that it's not enough to avoid conflicts of interest, one must also avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest. And with Abed, Diaz and Waldron (and Councilman Dick Daniels, for that matter) admitting that they've met privately with the city police officers union about the budget, it's pretty hard to dismiss the mayor's accusations as being completely unfounded -- particularly when e-mails show the union considers the above-mentioned trio to be in its corner in the ongoing fight over where to cut the city's budget.

Diaz's behavior in this is particularly disappointing. She's brought a sense of renewal and possibility to the City Council since her November election, but there's also been a troubling pattern of naivete when it comes to ethics. From her postelection statements that she could and should vote on police officers' salary and benefits despite being married to a member of the Police Department to her now-disclosed meeting with Mike Guerrero, president of the police officers union, Diaz has yet to show that she fully grasps how perception shapes reality in politics.

And if, as the union e-mails indicate, she indeed shared the information that she was trying to have the city manager fired, then Diaz is no position to lecture the mayor on ethics.

All the members of the City Council need to take a deep breath, and remind themselves that they were elected to run the city in a competent, professional manner. The mayor should apologize for the public nature of her accusations. Abed and Diaz should apologize for meeting with the union leadership during budget negotiations.

Then everyone needs to calmly, soberly sit down and figure out how the city is going to close its huge budget deficit and get us through the next 12 months.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at jtrageser@nctimes.com or 760-740-5408.