Graft was far worse in past

During a talk I gave to a Cary civic club the other day, someone asked me whether North Carolina politics is becoming more corrupt.

One could certainly make that argument. Both former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance and former state Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps are in prison. And there are multiple investigations surrounding state House Speaker Jim Black.

All of this scandal is a bit new for North Carolina, which has never been confused with Louisiana or Maryland or other states known for playing fast and loose.

The state's reputation for clean politics rests, in part, on its culture -- Bible Belt, small-town values, lots of checks and balances and vigorous newspapers.

In his classic 1949 study of the South, V.O. Key wrote that North Carolina's "governmental processes have been scrupulously orderly. For a half century no scandals have marred the state administration. No band of highwaymen posing as public officials has raided the public treasury."

Although Tar Heel public officials didn't have sticky fingers in the till, North Carolina government and politics were never pure.

Democrats controlled North Carolina politics for the first two-thirds of the 20th century only after they had disenfranchised black voters -- then mainly Republicans -- through intimidation and crooked elections.

The Democratic machine would do everything it could to stay in power, including stuffing ballot boxes in the mountains through the use of absentee ballots.

The gubernatorial election in 1920 was likely stolen. And the 1936 gubernatorial election may have been.

Under-the-table political contributions were common. Giving political supporters state jobs was the norm. Kicking back part of your state salary to the politician was expected. There was a reason why highway contractors, liquor dealers and others doing business with the state bankrolled political campaigns.

Unsigned campaign checks? Old pols tell me stories of wads of cash in brown paper bags. Former state Rep. Michael Decker landing a job as a political reward? There have been thousands of Michael Deckers over the years.

This was politics as it was practiced in North Carolina for generations. Today, the same actions could get you thrown into federal prison.

What has changed is the public's tolerance for political shenanigans. People no longer put up with ballot-box chicanery, political patronage and under-the-table contributions. With two-party competition, politicians can no longer count on prosecutors to look the other way.

Even with all the recent scandals, there are still no "highwaymen" robbing the public till to enrich themselves -- with the possible exception of Ballance buying a car for his son. Most of the controversies involve gray areas of raising political money and staying in power.

So is North Carolina politics more corrupt today? Not compared with past generations. Not compared with Washington. And probably not compared with most other states.

But we can do better.