Oh So Corrupt

I've been lukewarm on the whole sponsorship scandal thus far. I mean, nobody honestly thought these people were clean, did they? Still, this probably shouldn't have surprised me, but it does:

A former senior Liberal organizer fingered as the man who demanded cash payments from the ad firm Groupaction has fired back with explosive allegations that a small network of party chieftains doled out contracts, sponsorship deals and judicial appointments to Liberal stalwarts in exchange for their work on election campaigns.

Alright, I'm not naive, and patronage has a long history in most democracies. But judicial appointments? These are pretty important positions, not measly ambassadorships or anything like that. Gah. Am I truly naive, or is this a regular aspect of our politics?