It seems citizens are now supposed to be about one-third less disgusted by the patronage appointment of state Sen. Marian Walsh to a high-paying post that sat vacant for a dozen years. What else to make of the word from Walsh and Gov. Deval Patrick that she’s willing to settle for $120,000 a year, rather than the $175,000 she was slated to receive at the Health and Educational Facilities Authority?

Of course, yesterday’s announcement of the great sacrifice Walsh will make did nothing to address the fundamental fetidity of the appointment, which is the fact that it went to an early Patrick campaign supporter with no clear qualifications for a job that there is no clear rationale for filling. To clear the air of the actual stench that he has created, Patrick would have had to scrub the hire.