With the April 5 election fast approaching, residents should start to brace themselves for the onslaught of platitudes and empty promises candidates soon will be hurling.

It won’t be long before we’ll be hearing candidates spout such slogans as “proven leadership for a change.” Or we’ll hear them make promises about how they intend to “rebuild the public trust.”

These aspiring officials will make promises that they’ll be transparent and accessible once they’re elected to office.

But more often than not, the sad reality is when the going gets rough — and it usually does at some point — they won’t bother to return telephone calls, either to constituents or the press.

So much for transparency and accessibility — not to mention how they won’t hesitate to trample all over the Sunshine Law.

We can’t explain why seemingly good people sometimes completely reject the values and ideals they espoused when they first ran for office. Perhaps it’s a case of where their egos become so inflated it drives reason and common sense from their heads.

We must admit, the sincerity displayed by this type of candidate sometimes can fool both the press and the public.

Another type of candidate to be wary of is one who will do or say just about anything to get elected or re-elected.

Often this type of candidate will tout his or her plan that supposedly will provide a panacea to all that ails that particular government entity. But once he or she is elected, constituents learn no such plan exists. Instead the newly elected official essentially tells residents to get over it — there ain’t no plan.

Then there’s the candidate seeking re-election who refuses to take any responsibility for his or her actions in office.

This type of candidate typically will blame anyone or anything, particularly the media, for failing to fulfill the promises he or she made before taking office.

Before being elected, ironically, this type of candidate embraced the media and welcomed public scrutiny. But now, it’s never their fault; someone else always is to blame.

It’s a shame, but more often than not these candidates who entered public office with such great ideas and ideals become the very problem they promised to solve.