This is what Wikipedia has to say about the only politician I was a passionate supporter of:
Robert Stanfield, PC , QC , BA , LL.B (April 11, 1914–December 16, 2003) was Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob". As one of Canada's most distinguished and respected statesmen, he was one of several people granted the style "Right Honourable" who were not so entitled by virtue of an office held.Admittedly, I was pretty young and idealistic in the 70s - but wasn't everyone? I did have some hope with the New Democratic Party in the 90s but, when they got into power, they were just as bad as all the others, and they couldn't seem to get their snouts in the public trough quick enough. Two of their leaders resigned after corruption scandal allegations.
Now that I'm in Korea, I get to see it all brought to a new level - an avarice that even I, a bitter cynic, find hard to comprehend.
Despite the widely publicized investigation by prosecutors into the sale of party candidacies, a Democratic Party official was arrested Thursday after being caught, apparently, red-handed. Cho Jae-hwan, 57, the secretary general of the party, was arrested by police on the spot Thursday in possession of 400 million won ($421,000) in cash from a party member who hoped to be named a party candidate for the May 31 local elections.And, Cho is just one of many. Do they have no shame? What happened to the concept of public service? The people asking for the bribes are disgusting, and the people who pay these huge bribes are no better. They are obviously expecting to recoup their money somehow. Since their salaries won't be enough, they must be planning to get the money back some other way.
...
Mr. Cho gave his car key to Mr. Choi who then ordered his aides to deliver two apple boxes, each containing 20 bundles of 10 million won in 10,000 won bills, to Mr. Cho's car.
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Mr. Cho denied the charges against him and told the police, "I met Mr. Choi just to have dinner and gave him a car key since he said that he had a present for me. But I did not know that those boxes of cash were in my car."
And the list seems endless:
Mud flies as Uri calls Seoul, Ulsan mayors corrupt
2 GNP legislators resign from party after accusations
Prosecutors widen probe into election sleaze
I would really like to admire a politician. Does anyone know any good ones?
2 comments:
Just checking, but was the NDP in power situation you referred to in BC, or another province? Some of your readers might misunderstand, and think that you meant in power federally, something they've never accomplished.
As for politicians you can respect, there's a "Certain Person" over at my blog that I talked about, but I think you'll likely snort when you see his identity!
On a more serious note, there's Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch MP. Perhaps you've heard of her. I liked Pim Fortyun (I hope I spelled is name correctly). Hmm, how about Rudy Giuliani?
I actually rather like No Moo Hyun. It's generally agreed that he is the least corrupt of all the longer-serving presidents in this country. His anti-Americanism (and anti-Japanism) doesn't appeal to me, though. Having said that, I really don't follow Korean politics very closely, so I may be out to lunch with that claim about corruption. I know he's pretty unpopular these days.
I guess there's Pak Geun Hye. I actually think that when she smiles, she's a babe!
I'm sure there are quite a lot of politicians who are deserving of our respect, (especially those in the lower ranks of their parties), as long as we don't demand perfection.
Oh yes, I should mention that I am a big fan of Gilles Duceppe! When asked by MacLeans magazine several elections ago, "who would make the best Prime Minister?" I selected him over Stockwell Day, whom I still despise, and Chretien. He's also got better hair than John Kerry, and he has the added bonus that he is really French!
The NDP was in power in Lotus Land (B.C.).
Can't say I like Giuliani much. And, I haven't had much respect for Noh since he had his eyes "fixed" - makes him look a lot more friendly though (just kidding).
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