Can't Buy Integrity

With Gull's series on Mitt Romney, I decided to google a few articles on Romney's character and integrity. The guy is squeeky clean. He's generous, too. A type of public servant we've not seen in eons, if not longer. Here's something of note:

What causes so many of our elected officials to push ethics aside?

It’s an all-consuming desire to gain power, fame, and fortune.

Rather than working to serve the people, they work to serve themselves at the
expense of the people. For Governor Romney, the opportunity to serve others
was what drew him to government. As a wildly successful businessman,
Romney could have ignored the call to public service. But, as he explained in his book Turnaround, the opportunity to serve has given him more satisfaction than he ever could have expected:

“There is not one day when I have regretted making a full commitment to public service. The battles, the triumphs, the personal associations are more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I could have made a good deal more money over the last five years had I stayed at my investment job…

Instead, I have come to know many more people and to help many more people I
do not know. It’s a currency of a different denomination: it can’t be taxed, stolen, or depleted. The more I have of it, the richer I feel.” (page 384)

Speaking of money, it should be noted that Romney has served as governor
without taking a salary to encourage the spirit of volunteerism and out of his
desire to give something back.

When the 2002 Winter Olympics needed someone to come in and clean up
corruption, scandal, and waste that had occurred in the planning stages, they
called on Mitt Romney. He answered the call, turned around the mess, and
put on the most successful Winter Games in our history at a time when our
country needed a boost (the games occurred just months after
9/11).

That's the type of person I want as president.