Tim Murray’s patronage politics show deeper problem in Mass.

Indeed, Murray showed uniquely bad judgment in aligning himself with McLaughlin, a notorious political grifter. But the larger system of alliance-building through state and municipal government, greased along by dubious fundraising and the awarding of patronage jobs, is a deeper threat to Massachusetts. Murray has rejected McLaughlin, but he and other elected officials need to be far more forthright in declaring that the system of rewarding political supporters with jobs is morally wrong, unfair to other applicants, and damaging to the credibility of the state government. It simply shouldn’t happen.

But rather than promise to change the system, elected officials try to hide behind it. Everyone’s heard their alibis: How political supporters and their friends are merely “referred’’ to hiring officers, rather than hired outright; how rewarding a political crony is no different from any other managers putting their own people in positions of authority; how some of those hired through political contacts are actually hard workers who get unfairly stigmatized.

These explanations can sometimes muddy the waters, and Murray, in seeking to extricate himself from the McLaughlin mess, is drawing deeply from this well of excuses. But voters know what’s going on, and so do honest government employees and business people looking to locate firms in Massachusetts. And the effect is toxic.

When Massachusetts faces a real crisis, like it is right now in groping for a way to finance the MBTA, voters are highly skeptical, assuming that waste and fraud account for all shortfalls. When outside firms consider whether to locate in smaller urban areas in Massachusetts, they quickly suss out which local governments seem to exist solely for the benefit of those in them, and steer away.