Purchasing power

Everyone loves a political scandal. Something about sleazy bigwigs in Brooks Brothers suits getting shamed in front of the American public has an appeal we all oh-so-sadistically enjoy.\nBut school-board political scandals? Can that even happen?\nThe word of the day is "pretentious," folks. And because of it, an otherwise anonymous Gary school-board member, Michael Scott, is making much bigger news than he ever intended.\nUp for re-election, Scott took 61 high-school absentee voters to lunch at Ponderosa out of pocket. Eyebrows were immediately raised when all the teenagers were found to be voting in his district, and the suspicion hit the news when he requested school funds to pay himself back for the meals. The lunches cost $422.36.\nGood thing he got that 36 cents back. Measly steak lunches and measly dollar amounts are far from worthy of drawing this attention to potentially illegal activity. Buying a school-board election -- how badly does he want it? We expect this sort of thing on a larger scale. Watergate was exciting. This is downright hilarious. \nAnd there's another thing: Ponderosa. We're all elated Scott chose Ponderosa: For one, we didn't even know Ponderosa was still in business. Two, the reason we thought it had gone out of business was because the only thing it ever had going for it was the disproportionately huge dessert kiosk.\nMichael Scott wanted his money back. Trying to pull a fast one on the school district where you're currently employed -- now that's just admirable. Congressional candidates pull jaw-dropping quantities of money out of their wallets every two years and don't bother to be reimbursed. They seem to have heard the good word in Campaign Finance 101: Don't ask for reimbursement from the organization where you're trying to snag a position. It's bad karma.\nIn all seriousness, the screams of public corruption even at the local level are a bit eerie. If such is happening in a small school district such as Gary, we wonder just where else in the state and country this is occurring.\nMany can see or are at least unconsciously aware of the corrupt practices that go on at the federal level. But when those practices rear their ugly heads so close to home, we start to wonder who these people are who have such a direct effect on our daily lives. Of course, we would hate to transparently see all the underhanded deals that are occurring in Indiana. Cardiac arrest is not on our to-do list for at least another 30 years or so.\nStill, we believe we can all learn a valuable lesson from Mr. Scott. Do you want to secure that ineffectual, over-hyped position? Not sure if you can do it legally? Go for it! It's a land of opportunity, kids. Carpe diem. This is the American dream.\nJust make sure you at least take them to the Golden Corral.