And one concept that should be abolished from our thinking (well, maybe not that far) is this idea that supposed good motives on the part of government officials when they act lawlessly is somehow mitigating. It’s not. It’s a species of arrogance. If there are X conditions for permits, then adding Y and Z due to some official’s idea of how the world ought to work is every bit as lawless as doing so for venal purposes, and actually, in some ways, worse. If the motives are venal, they can just be paid off, and everyone goes on.

If it is true that these two coerced the hiring of union employees, the punishment here should be very harsh–on the order of a decade or even more. There should be zero tolerance in our society for this sort of do-gooder thuggery. .