When did this attitude start? I am up to page 150 in 'The Prize' where they are trying to convince the Royal British Navy to convert to oil but don't yet have a secure source and people are lining up ten deep to plunk down their life savings on some oil speculation here or there and personality is everything because nobody knows anything.
If you are the head of a State agency, looking at economic development over the long run, you want to keep your credibility.
I know Mr. Helms from working with him in the past, and he is a straight shooter.
That reputation is worth more than all the 'fast bucks' in the state coffers ever would be.
If you are someone unscrupulous somewhere trying to sell a shaky prospect, different rules may apply--just as I have seen with the abiotic oil crowd.
Keep in mind, though, this (The Bakken) was once considered a "shaky prospect".
Whenever there is a boom, someone, somewhere, will be trying to produce the investors rather than the commodity, others will be picking longshots which have a chance of paying off or are unproven concepts.
Many of us who have been in the industry for some time have a couple of those (longshots or unproven concepts) tucked away, but have not been moved to seek investors in them.
The only really good salesman I know once said, "Customers are like sheep. You can take the wool off 'em every now and then, and if you do it right, they will be happy to have the haircut. But you can only skin 'em once."
For those of us who depend on our professional reputations, selling those ideas would only come with the caveat that it might not work at all and every invested dime might be lost. Frankly, that is not what people want to hear.