Brent Batten: What's been happening on this wave of growth and cash?

You wouldn't be altogether wrong.

Leo Salvatori, Jack Pentz, William Overstreet and Al Hogrefe may all be innocent of the charges against them.

But their cases, playing out respectively in Collier County Circuit Court, U.S. District Court and informal hearings at Naples City Hall, represent a confluence of events building for years.

We've learned, in dribs and drabs, that systems are worked. That blind eyes are turned. That advantage is taken.

Once, naively no doubt, the presumption was that Collier County was immune to the sort of corruption that persistently plagued Florida's east coast and was even occasionally in evidence as close as Lee County.

Sure, there was head-spinning growth all around. It was a natural consequence of great weather, green water and, paradoxically, the unspoiled nature of the area. Who wouldn't want to build here?

But all that growth, all that money coming in, hadn't changed the social contract. People played by the rules. The things that happened, happened for good reason. You may not have liked them, but at least there was a measure of integrity in the process.

It was possible to cling to that belief until as late as 1997, when a county commissioner unabashedly declared himself a partner in a real estate development that would need board votes. And with partners whose requests he had been voting on for months.

The tightly braided system began to unravel.

Another county commissioner got a favorable loan from the same bunch of developers. The State Attorney who was supposed to be protecting the public's interest from just these sorts of things was an investor himself.

Con men worked in our midst all but immune from any local scrutiny, finding victims among the wealthy, trusting souls who failed to recognize that the community's idyllic image just wasn't real. The taxpayers' employees were so steeped in a culture of friendly favoritism and corner-cutting that even the most respected among them took advantage with barely a second thought.

So now there are trials and hearings.

One of an attorney who drew up deals between county commissioners and developers.

Another of a money man charged with cheating an investor out of millions.

Two of government employees accused of helping themselves at the expense of their constituents.

How the four cases turn out remains to be seen.

Is an attorney just doing his job, even if the nature of the job would shock the community conscience were it known?

Must the buyer always beware?

Can a public servant's innocent actions be terribly misconstrued?

We may have answers to these questions in just days or weeks.

The larger question: Have we learned the true extent of all that's been taking place on the crest of this wave of growth and cash? This may take years to answer.

Based on last week's newspapers, it's hard to be optimistic.

E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com.