I have just read on the BBC Wales web-site that Labour AM (and Pembrokeshire County Councillor, Joyce Watson) is now under investigation at the Welsh Assembly for allegedly sending 2 newsletters to 1000 Labour party members, using Assembly stationery, postage etc...
We also have the Conservative MP, Derek Conway saga, for employing his Hooray Henry son, as a researcher, whilst he was at University. Conway has damaged the Tories as they have tried to get rid of their sleaze tag, under Cameron.
We recently had Peter Hain standing down from the Cabinet for his rather incompetant reporting of his financial backers for his Deputy Leadership campaign.
These examples, along with others in the public domain, including £7000 involving David Cameron, is not only damaging the individuals, its just adding another nail in the coffin of the average cynical voter that ALL politicians are corrupt and therefore, they wont bother to vote.
Already, voter turn-out is comparatively low compared to just 20-30 years ago. With the recent trickle of alleged misuse of funds turning into a stream, when is confidence going to be restored, but more importantly, how can it be restored?
We rely on our AM's,MP's and councillors coming from all backgrounds in society. If the money is taken away, do we go back to the days when only the rich were our representatives as they paid for everything themselves? Of course not!
But we cannot continue seeing the damage being inflicted on our democracy as Democracy itself will be the only loser in the long run as even more voters stay at home.