What's up with the (allegedly) corrupt central coast?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/whats-up-with-the-allegedly-corrupt-central-coast

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Going to school in Gosford, you'd walk past this graffiti on the railway bridge every morning: "Gosford cops are too corrupt … "

It sets the tone for recent news around the central coast, which seems to have become the epicentre of (alleged) whiffy dealings and (allegedly) dodgy politicians in NSW.

First, there was the former federal politician Craig Thomson and his alleged credit card fraud.

Thomson was formerly MP for the central coast seat of Dobell, and has pleaded not guilty to multiple fraud charges relating to Health Services Union credit cards. It was reported this week that the alleged misuse of the cards included spending on a "red turbo spa room’’ in a brothel, among other things.

Then there's Eddie Obeid, the former member of the state’s upper house, whose once-powerful NSW Labor sub-faction the Terrigals was named after the central coast town where the group first met in Obeid’s beach house.

An inquiry by the Independent Commission Against Corruption has found that Obeid engaged in corrupt conduct in relation to actions involving the Mount Penny mining tenement in the Bylong Valley. His fellow Terrigal Joe Tripodi has also appeared at Icac in relation to some of the many other allegations against Obeid.

Now another Icac investigation involves Chris Hartcher, the state MP for Terrigal who on Wednesday stood down from his cabinet position, following raids on two other central coast state politicians, Chris Spence and Darren Webber.

It's hard to pinpoint why all this has centred on the region between Newcastle and Sydney, otherwise known for its beaches, youth unemployment and the Central Coast Mariners, the smallest, yet best, club in the A-League.

Is it the hedonistic beach lifestyle that starts people down a slippery slope into temptation?

Are they drawn to the lights of the majestic Erina Fair (allegedly the largest single-storey shopping centre in the southern hemisphere), wishing for the high life?

Did the demise of the Gosford cinemas put them at a loose end?

Could they not bear the prospect of the coast's numerous retirement villages eventually linking up into one giant, mega-retirement home?

Were they too distraught after Club Troppo shut down after a 16-year reign as the central coast's (alleged) premier club destination?

Emasculated after the iconic Skillion lost its pointy tip?

We may never know.

<em>Guardian Australia is not suggesting the central coast is in any way actually corrupting the minds of people like some insidious, ancient artefact in an HP Lovecraft novel. The author personally knows many central coast dwellers who are fine and upstanding people with impeccable morals, and is indeed a proud coastie himself.</em>

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