No matter how it turns out, it was obvious from yesterday’s opening arguments that the trial of two former CVS executives on federal corruption charges is not going to be pretty.

Sure, if you listen to the prosecutors, you might believe that John Kramer, 75, and Carlos Ortiz, 64, did indeed bribe former Sen. John Celona and conspire to deprive Rhode Islanders of his honest services.

But even if you listen just to the defense, it still doesn’t sound good. It seems to amount to: OK, we did some odd things, like paying Celona $12,000 annually to, among other things, host a cable TV program that put Kramer on twice a year to tout the CVS story, usually its charitable activities. And, true, it wasn’t mentioned on air that CVS was underwriting the show, but, hey, don’t get worked up about it; we were NOT buying his vote.

Scenes from the programs apparently will be played in court. I can’t wait to see what kind of tough questions Celona must have been hitting Kramer with.

And even if it’s true, as the defense contends, that Celona approached CVS rather than the other way around, shouldn’t the company, a great American success story, have recognized there was something seedy about paying a public official to give it media exposure and spread its message at community meetings? I mean, would General Dynamics pay Jack Reed to host a TV show and chat up the company in community meetings near defense plants?

And, within minutes of yesterday’s trial debut before Judge Mary Lisi, this case was already popularizing a term not commonly heard around here: “consolation bribe.” This referred to a golf-related trip to San Diego the prosecution says CVS gave Celona to ease the sting of ending their relationship with him. The defense says it was just a gesture of friendship. I can’t use this column to solicit gifts, but did you know that I love San Diego?

On hand to watch yesterday’s session, Mary Tassone, 72, inveterate spectator at big trials here, expressed some concern about the defendants. “Who wants to go to jail at ages 75 and 64, if they go to jail? It’s tough.”

It’s always great to see TV reporters Jim Taricani and Sean Daly, but I couldn’t help thinking how much the late Jack White would have relished being there.

U.S. Attorney Robert Corrente, looking in on his team, said, “We’re ready to go, and we’ll see what happens.”

In the audience was Jeffrey Pine, outside counsel to CVS, a strong corruption fighter as attorney general. When I twitted him yesterday by saying, “Aren’t you supposed to represent the good guys?” he said, “I think I do.”

Now I know this has nothing to do with the trial, but every time I visit CVS, it makes me crazy that a company that alleges to concern itself so much with our health gives the most prominent display space to cigarettes.

I’d love a ban on cigarette sales, especially in drug stores, but I thought it a remote dream until a story in last Friday’s USA Today. It said, “Cigarettes are getting harder to find. More retail chains are dropping them, and for the first time, officials in a few states want to ban pharmacies from selling them.” The story pictured San Francisco as likely to soon pass a ban on drug stores selling tobacco products.

I hope the city’s Board of Supervisors does pass it, and if Providence councilmen or Rhode Island legislators want to take a taxpayer-paid junket out there to see how the ban is working, go right ahead. Feel free to consider it a consolation prize for all you give up to be a public servant.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal’s political columnist.

Mbakst@projo.com