The Way It Was -- Corruption and Mayhem

Editor’s note: As this story illustrates, public corruption has been around forever across Hidalgo County. Human beings are, well, human (all flawed; some worse than others). Politics just makes it that much harder for a good person to stay honest and true. Power corrupts; absolute power corrects absolutely, or so goes the old saying. Money isn’t the root of all evil. Rather, the love of money is the root of all evil if the Bible is to be believed.
Some elected officials (public servants) stay true to their constituents, some don’t, siding instead with their large campaign donors, AKA, pay to play. Here in Hidalgo County, as the following story helps illustrate – Valley public corruption was perhaps even wilder back in the “good old days.”
News of possible corruption in Hidalgo County goes way back. To get a feel for local history, you can’t do much better than picking up the non-fiction book “Wild Horse Desert,” penned by a former local writer named Brian Robertson, which paints a picture of local politics dating back to the late teens and early 20’s.

Read the entire story on the e-Edition of our newspaper. http://www.etypeservices.com/Advance%20News%20JournalID455/