While we were in Dénia’s historic center, before setting off on the bike tour around Montgó, look who we passed on the street!

Jorge Alarte, the Secretary General of Valencia’s socialist party! He and his entourage were making some sort of tour of the town. “Hola!” I called out. He turned, with his sleepy hangdog expression and returned my greeting.

Alarte has been the leader of the Valencian PSOE since 2008. Despite the corruption troubles of the opposition party, though, the Socialists haven’t been able to make up ground in the polls under his leadership. He’s from Alaquás and recently has had to battle back against outrage over his salary.

Alright, it wasn’t like bumping into David Villa, but it was still unexpected and a little exciting!

- Short Term Rental Valencia

Corruption and Valencia — they go together like peas in a pod. Particularly in developments along the coast, and especially during the long construction boom when everyone was destroying the environment & getting rich, corruption was simply how it worked. You grease my palm, I greenlight your project, and the good people of Benidorm get a wonderful theme park. Everyone wins.

But recently, the push to eradicate corruption and punish those officials engaged in it has become a national priority. And the avenging eye is now squarely focused on Valencia and its leader Francisco Camps.

Francisco Correa – ElPais.com

Details are hazy, and Camps hasn’t actually yet been accused of anything concrete; just “implicated in wrongdoing”. From what I understand, the investigations are centered on the shady dealings of business entrepreneur Francisco Correa (image right). This dude has had business dealings with a lot of members of the conservative Partido Popular, and the wide-ranging inquiry has implicated a large number of powerful party members.

The PP is, naturally, claiming that this is a witch hunt, orchestrated by the liberals to distract people from the financial crisis. Who knows? Certainly, the governing PSOE benefits politically from the proceedings. But organized conspiracy or no, I have one piece of advice for aspiring politicians of all stripes: Don’t associate with rich ‘business entrepreneurs’ that have long, greasy, slicked-back hair. There is no way that such a person, and everything he touches, isn’t corrupt.