Steven Greenhut on the California Senate and the Corrupt Reality of Government

The only
mild complaint against the critically acclaimed TV series
Breaking Bad, writes Steven Greenhut, is that the premise
is a stretch. It’s hard to imagine a straight-laced high-school
chemistry teacher, after being diagnosed with lung cancer and
struggling with money problems, becoming a kingpin in the
crystal-meth underworld.

The 137-page affidavit in the federal corruption case just
unveiled against a California senator makes clear that the show
doesn’t stack up against reality. TV’s Walter White quickly became
believable in his drug-dealing role, but who could ever imagine
Sen. Leland Yee, the mild-mannered San Francisco Democrat, as an
international arms dealer with links to mobsters? And he’s not the
only embarrassment in the California Senate.

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