Dear Vanessa,

If you mean ethical standards, it's at every level the highest order.

However, when it comes to morals, what happens "outside the white lines" is
really nobody's business. (To answer the begged question: If you take a loan
from a city where you represent the citizens, any resulting conditions thereto
are inside the white lines.)

By the way, don't buy into anybody who presents themselves as
"holier-than-thou". They simply are not. (That includes Sen. McCain for those
folks
drinking his brand of kool-aid.)

The last person you want taking care of you, or representing you for that
matter, is some "I don't get my hands dirty", milque toast, namby pamby, goody
good. In the world of politics these folks have a name: eventual victims.
Sometimes straws have to be drawn to see who gets to exploit them first. (The
"straws process" keeps folks from running over each other to take advantage of
this opportunity.)

To succeed, you need an edge. That edge, however, must work inside of
ethical boundaries.