Our governor is in the nation’s capitol today, asking lawmakers to come up with another $5 billion for the Road Home Program. The headline in Wednesday’s paper announces this is going to be a “hard sell.”

Congress doesn’t trust our leaders. No wonder, when you consider the shenanigans of many of them.

Across the top of today’s front page, we read that an ex-school board member has admitted to taking bribes from the brother of embattled Congressman William Jefferson to influence board policy. Mose Jefferson himself has been prominent in the news as the partner of his little brother William in all kinds of business deals, some of which now appear to have the potential of sending them both up the river.

Ellenese Brooks-Simms had presented herself as a foe of corruption in running for the Orleans Parish School Board in 2000. She was outspoken in her criticism of Superintendent Al Davis, particularly when it came out that Davis’ elderly father, a custodian at Carver High School, had racked up enough overtime to bring his annual income to $70,000. Brooks-Simms was relentless in her outcries against cronyism and corruption, so Davis was terminated and Anthony Amato was hired. Within a year, Brooks-Simms and some of her pals on the school board were trying to oust Amato when the citizenry decided they had had enough of such shenanigans. In the 2004 election, she was voted out along with a number of other board members, and a council of responsible, more proven leaders was chosen.

Now, this prophet of righteousness, this thorn in the side of all who would try to cheat the public, this voice for goodness, Ellenese Brooks-Simms will be going to jail. She admits that she took $100,000 from Mose Jefferson in order to support a program for the schools called “I CAN Learn.” The newspaper makes it clear the educational program as such is highly respectable and popular. The owner of the company says he hired Mose Jefferson as a consultant in order to introduce him to movers and shakers in the local educational community. “You can’t just cold-call a superintendent,” he said. The contract gave Jefferson $500,000 and stipulated that the agreement was immediately canceled by any “untoward activity.”

“Untoward”–an adverb meaning adverse or vexatious. Yes, I’d say we have had–and perhaps still have–plenty of vexatious political leaders down here. Not all, thank the Lord. But we keep getting these revelations about the wheeling and dealing that has gone on behind the curtain, and pretty soon you decide not to trust any of them.

That’s what congressional leaders in Washington are no doubt concluding.

Unfortunately, the citizens of the area suffer from the lack of trust in our leadership.

One can say all he pleases about, “Well, this is what you get for electing dishonest leaders.” That’s almost right. The problem with that is it’s so hard to tell who’s honest and who’s not by just sitting at home and reading the papers and watching the news. John Q. Citizen has no way of knowing a council member met secretly last night with a big shot who slipped her a sack of money in return for her support. When it comes out, we are understandably irate and insist that the right thing be done. People in other states decide the residents of Louisiana have a high tolerance for crooks and thus deserve the suspicion and non-support of Congress.

I will admit that we deserve much of this. Our four-term governor Edwin Edwards is sitting in a federal prison right now, halfway through a sentence for racketeering. A local newspaper columnist, James Gill, who is the first one to jump all over public officials who step over the line, has inexplicably come out in favor of pardoning Edwards. “He’s suffered enough,” seems to be his theme. I would guess that most people do what I do, read that and say, “Suffered for what? He’s never admitted anything!”

In a lot of cases, I’m totally in favor of forgiving wrong-doers who admit their misdeeds and show proper repentance. But why offer forgiveness to a shyster who conned this state for years and even today, curls his lip with a wicked grin and sneers at those who put him in the penitentiary.

Along the same lines, there is a group of citizens who are trying to generate funds to help Congressman Jefferson with his legal battles. They are convinced he is the victim of a double standard of the FBI, and no doubt the victim of racism. They speak glowingly of Jefferson and disparagingly of anyone calling for him to resign from Congress. From where I sit, it appears that Jefferson is playing them for all he can get from them. I do not for a moment doubt their good intentions. What I doubt is their wisdom. I want to say to them, “Ask Jefferson for some explanations! Let him tell us what the $90,000 was doing in his freezer! Tell us why some staffers in his congressional office pleaded guilty in the same matter he’s being charged with and are now serving time in prison, and yet he did nothing wrong.” Meanwhile, Jefferson says nothing and we sit and wait to see what happens next.

And who will be indicted next.

Let’s have no self-righteousness from those who read this, please. Sin is rampant, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:10 and other places. No matter where you live, your morning paper tells of some of your judges and officials cutting corners on justice, taking bribes, and otherwise engaging in criminal acts. It’s a sad commentary on life, but it’s not just in New Orleans.

I wish it were. I wish it were so simple as moving away.

I have no idea whether this is true or not, but there’s an old story that when the Churches of Christ founded Texas Christian University below the wild-west, corrupt town of Fort Worth, they–or someone–advertised that they were “30 miles from the nearest sin.” That didn’t last long, as sin found them down there!