In what could ignite a trend, a Democrat politician on trial for ripping off taxpayers has pled stupidity. The UK Daily Mail reports:

The former mayor of Bell, California, was too stupid and uneducated to know his $100,000 salary for the part-time city job was illegal, his lawyer argued today.

Oscar Hernandez is illiterate, has no high school degree and didn't even finish elementary school, defense attorney Stanley Friedmand told jurors.

Hernandez and five former members of the Bell City Council are on trial, accused of stealing $1.3million in exorbitant pay from the working-class city of 35,000.

Given the number of public employees who receive more pay than they deserve for their lackadaisical public service and the unions which enable them, self-declarations of incompetence could become a fashion item.