Charming leaders can hypnotize patrons and constituents when they’re not closely watched.

The recent series of recollections about the political career and philosophies of former President Ronald Reagan frequently spotlighted one of his pet slogans: “Trust, but verify.”

It is important for people to have public officials they respect and trust, but regular scrutiny of what they are doing and how they are doing it is vital no matter how above-board they might appear.

The importance of such an approach to public affairs was re-emphasized with the recent scandal involving Roslyn High School in Roslyn, N.Y., a community about 20 miles from New York City.

Roslyn High sends 95 percent of its graduates to college. Its SAT scores are among the best in the nation and the school was cited in a recent Wall Street Journal story on some of the country’s finest public schools. Roslyn High is noted for its generous annual budget which has tended to fund whatever programs administrators said were necessary to keep the district’s students at “the head of the class.”

This spring, however, there came accusations of theft and shocking abuse of money sources. There is evidence that some school officials used district money to buy luxury homes, cars and other items with tens of thousands of dollars going for expensive dry cleaning and gourmet food bills. The scandal has led to the arrest of a former administrator and a voter revolt that refused the latest budget propositions until a full audit is conducted.

It all began slowly enough. One longtime administrator was found to have stolen much more than the $250,000 she repaid two years ago when she was quietly permitted to retire. That triggered a probe that has uncovered about $8 million in suspicious spending. The District Attorney’s Office has become involved and more arrests seem certain.

David Ernst of the New York State School Boards Assn. said the scandal should be a lesson for any school board member in America who is inclined blindly to follow the lead of a dynamic superintendent and his or her staff.

“You cannot be afraid to ask the hard questions,” said Ernst.

“Constantly,” he added.

Aggressive, charming people in public life can so mesmerize their clients and patrons that they are given a blank check to become crooks. One major business and industry after another has been terribly damaged by boards of directors who did not “trust, but verify” the people they had in charge. Close to home, consider the way the top people at Westar, formerly Kansas Power and Light, were able to wheel, deal and bamboozle because directors were not demanding enough accountability.

Hard, constant questions are in order when people are put in charge of the money of others, particularly in the case of a public operation such as the New York school board. It is all well and good to hire and empower charismatic, able leadership, but such people never should be allowed to operate without close oversight.