An alleged lie has put Virginia Haugen on trial, and it is time for the contentious and dissenting voice on the Auburn City Council to come clean.

Haugen, elected to the council in November 2007, has been charged with lying to Auburn police and obstructing an investigation. The charge stems from a July 4 incident in which some unknown trespassers encroached onto Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad property to hang a banner over a trestle along Auburn Way South asking, “Will the last business in Auburn please turn out the lights?”

While Haugen and others might consider this a joke, it is no laughing matter. And while Haugen and her supporters were trying to make a point about Auburn’s dour downtown climate, it ultimately misfired.

Now, we are left with an embarrassing and ridiculous episode that has reached the Auburn Municipal Court.

At issue here isn’t the message, it’s the messenger. It’s not about a bold sign, it’s about the plain truth. In principle, it’s about respecting authority, being responsible for who you are and who you represent.

Police have determined that Haugen was not among the trespassers. But what is disturbing is the fact that when first confronted by police, Haugen denied any connection. When pressed and presented with irrefutable evidence of her role, Haugen allegedly threw up her hands and told police, “All right, you got me, I lied.”

Haugen has admitted that she ordered and picked up the sign on behalf of the people who actually trespassed. When officers asked her why she had lied to them, she allegedly replied that she wanted to keep the people involved out of trouble.

Haugen still has not named who those people were. She said the whole incident had been a prank, a commentary on the state of the city’s downtown.

Not exactly a noble act.

While it is good to question, is it good to mislead?

Elected officials should be first and foremost, honest. We elect them to serve, to put the best interests of the city in front of their own. City councilmembers are privileged to serve but not privileged to work above the law.

In this case, Haugen was out of bounds. Her actions have cast a negative cloud over a growing, struggling city trying to move forward in the wake of a deep recession.

Sure, the downtown area needs an infusion of economic hope and reincarnation. But it also needs leaders behind it who serve honestly.

We need the mutual trust and confidence that our leaders and followers can get the job done. They need to work as a team.

Despite the real issue here – the truth – there are those who interpret this matter quite differently.

What is astounding is how people can twist things into the most absurd shapes to fit their preconceived notions.

This newspaper has received its share of mostly unprintable and derogatory criticisms of city leadership and the dilapidated state of downtown. And we received a good share of comments from fervent Haugen supporters who claim her legal woes are about the city taking it out on her for her courageous stance on the sad state of the downtown.

Specifically, they claim this charge represents Mayor Pete Lewis’s vendetta against her.

Lewis has nothing to do with this mess. Haugen, the antagonist, clearly acted alone.

For some, it is easy to confuse the truth with a personal or political face-off.

Haugen’s legal problems have nothing to do with downtown development. What the judge will decide is simple, straightforward: Did she lie and obstruct a police investigation? That’s the point of all this.

Some supporters want to portray Haugen as some sort of martyr, the victim of a grand city conspiracy to bring her down.

There is no conspiracy, just a situation where we want the truth.

And nothing but the truth.