Has your boss ever asked you to field dress a deer on company time? (Assuming your job is NOT in fact, to field dress deer.)
And if he did, it can hardly be considered a crime, can it? What about when you salary comes directly out of the pockets of taxpayers in your state (read: your next door neighbors)?
The litany of the misconduct exhibited by Richie Farmer, former commissioner of agriculture in Kentucky, failed candidate for the office lieutenant governor, and, perhaps, most notably, a member of the UK Unforgettables (it's a college basketball thing) goes on.
Hiring a girlfriend who does no work. Having employees mow his lawn. Accepting gifts of sweatpants and basketball courts installed at his home. Shooting deer from his government-issue vehicle. There isn't enough space here to list them all, so we shall cut to the chase: is it right that we let people off the hook from being good people just because they played some decent ball once?
Richie Farmer is a basketball legend in Kentucky. He's a good ol' boy. And he's not a bad person. He hasn't committed (to our knowledge) any particularly heinous crimes, like hiring a hit man or voting for socialized health care (kidding). But he is a thief.
Though relatively innocuous, his exploits represent theft of taxpayer dollars in a time where dollars are very precious. And even worse than the money, he's taking something else from us that's even more dear: our belief in our heroes to do the right thing. Our faith in our politicians to govern within the law, and to place their constituents above themselves.
Richie Farmer is as grassroots as you get . . . and he's poisoned that grass.
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