British Columbians could be forgiven for being cynical about their politicians. In recent memory, Glen Clark and his advisors bullied the Finance Ministry into producing the 1996 "fudge-it" budget, brazenly refused to resign when the truth became public, and likewise refused to fall on their swords when $200 million in fast ferry cost over-runs was revealed. Mr. Clark's eventual resignation over his alleged involvement in granting a casino license was a bit anti-climactic, a bit like seeing Al Capone nailed for tax evasion.

Other of Mr. Clark's colleagues similarly lack a sense of contrition. In the recent Carrier Lumber case, the judge found that in the early 1990s, Premier Dan Miller, Forestry Minister Dave Zirnhelt, and former Premier Mike Harcourt, prevented Carrier, a forestry company from carrying out its legal right to log. It was the political equivalent of slashing a taxi's tires thus preventing the driver from earning a living. Despite the blistering court judgement that may cost taxpayers $150 million, Mssrs. Miller and Zirnhelt soldier on in their respective portfolios, having sent the case to appeal.

And then of course there is Gordon Wilson. His various shenanigans have not cost taxpayers much, if anything, in the way of lost tax dollars, but his various now-punctured claims embarrass BC once again, as if such a possibility existed. Moreover, he is still in the Education portfolio.

As a result, we should all pity teachers, who will now have to explain to those under their charge, why it is not OK to fudge budgets, tell lies, and why the police must be respected, despite the example of politicians who fudge numbers, twist truth, and try to sneak around the rule of law. Teachers and parents who successfully communicate basic morality to children after all this should be given combat pay.

Well, out from the suburbs of Victoria comes an exception to the dreary bunch of conscience-challenged politicians. In the district of Highlands, the former mayor has said he will try and pay the $500,000 judgement leveled against his municipality by the courts. Bob McMinn was found to have crippled landowners in their negotiations with the province for their property. (They had originally wanted to develop the land for housing. Mr. McMinn's actions as mayor to prevent that in favour of a park resulted in less money for the land when it was eventually sold to the province instead.) The BC Supreme Court found his actions to be an abuse of his public office and ordered the Highlands district, i.e. taxpayers, to pay $500,000 to the property's former owners.

Mr. McMinn still defends his action and says he may appeal. He's wrong. When governments want private land for public parks they should pay full value for it. Governments have no more of a right to devalue private land without full compensation than they do to force citizens to work for free, since the end result is the same - the sweat of someone else's brow for free.

Nevertheless, by offering to pay the $500,000 himself - a reasonable and honourable offer since it was his intentional action that caused the court judgement - the former mayor has shown that he respects both the rule of law (albeit after having a court remind him of its importance) and taxpayers. Maybe he could give some lessons in political honour to some of our provincial politicians.