Reading Dan McGowan’s detailed background of Providence City Councilman Kevin Jackson’s travails, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy:

On Tuesday Jackson could become the first councilperson in Providence history to be recalled from office. A group of his constituents in Ward 3 on the city’s East Side launched the campaign to remove him after he was arrested last May on charges that he embezzled from the youth sports organization he co-founded in 1978 and misused his political campaign account.

The guy’s been in city government for twenty-something years.  You can see how, over time, funds get mingled, and liberties get taken.  (I’d actually argue that the campaign finance rules ought to be eliminated, anyway.)

The moral, it seems to me, is the value of term limits.  Spending that long in a position that makes one feel righteous and powerful is corrupting.