Fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption seem to be the big words today. Can life lessons be taught that eliminate giving into the temptations of corruption?

There was a time when my father was in charge of a significant operation for a very-well known company. His operation utilized third-party outside contractors to perform the work. One year, the contract for these services came up for bid.

The contract to perform these services was not only profitable, it was also a highly visible assignment. If a contractor could land this contract, they could, and often did, leverage this ‘logo’ when competing for other contractor assignments.

The sole decision on which contractor to select belonged entirely to my father. His company’s executive team would ask him to write up a short summary of why he chose a particular contractor. His summary included a writeup on each bidding company’s previous experience and pricing model followed by my father’s selection and his reasons why his selection was in the best interest of his company.

Years later, my father would tell us that he knew, given the scope and scale and prestige of that contract, that principals of companies looking to be awarded the contract were reaching out to their ‘friends and connections’ in the company’s executive offices in hopes of backdooring my father and forcing a top-down decision.

To the company’s credit, they never did that. They relied on my father’s experience, wisdom, and guidance to select a partner that would be in the best interest of the company.

“Weren’t you promised free stuff by competing company principals if you gave them the award?” we asked my father.

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “Every time the contract came up for renewal.”

He proceeded to tell us about one vendor principal who was desperate to get the contract who came right out and said to him “name the car you want and it will be in your driveway this week… Nobody will ever know.”

My brothers and I had the same reaction. “Are you crazy? why didn’t you take the car?”

“Because," my father said, "once you allow someone’s hand in your back pocket, their hand will always be in your pocket.”

And that is how my father taught us our first and long-lasting lesson about corruption.

Today, I think about the young “go-getters’ being elected for the first time into government, be it a local assembly person, a small-town mayor, a county or state representative, a member of the House of Representatives, or to the U.S. Senate, and I think of the hundreds and hundreds of ‘new car in your driveway’ offers they’re all getting.

How many have my father’s fortitude to remain committed and focused on doing what’s best for their town, for their county, for their state or for the United States?

How many have become hooked on having power and control and access to corrupt money that they run for office again and again?

How many have allowed somebody’s hand or multiple hands in their back pocket and now no longer make decisions based on what’s best for their country but instead make decisions based on what’s best for the hands in their back pockets?

Image: Pexels/Alex P