On politicians, corruption, and golf courses

I really don't want to be one of those people who doesn't have the ability to believe in any politician because of the ill deeds of a (small?) group of corrupt leaders. And luckily, I'm not that jaded...yet. But I must say I was quite disheartened to learn that back in 2002 former Governor Easley was not exactly practicing what he preached. As he encouraged North Carolinians to cut down on water use during a horrible statewide drought, he apparently also was ensuring that his golf course was not suffering from the water restrictions that every one else was facing. From the Charlotte Observer:

"[Easley] was the first Southern governor to seek federal disaster aid because of the drought. A high-profile visit to a Wake County farm showed a concerned governor sifting through the stunted shoots of a shriveled corn field. In mid-August he issued an executive order halting non-essential water use and creating a Water System Protection Team to study water restrictions.

It was just the sort of thing a governor ought to do in a crisis. But what only a few insiders in Raleigh knew was that his administration was helping Easley's golf club get permission to pump millions of gallons from a tributary of a major water supply to water the club's greens. Despite warnings from some officials about how it would look if the public caught on, the Easley administration cleared the way for Old Chatham Golf Club to pump 450,000 gallons a day from Northeast Creek, which eventually flows into Jordan Lake, a source of water for Cary in Wake County and for Chatham County."

And there's plenty more where that came from: an editorial from the Greensboro News and Record, an article from the Raleigh News & Observer, and an editorial also from the N&0.

Is there no end to the hypocrisy of the people we are supposed to trust?