Jeff,
Again, as one who knows quite a few raters, I haven't seen that problem. Perhaps by chance I only know the nice ones, but maybe too your expectations of raters and/or the process are a little unrealistic.
In my debriefings with managers, directors of golf, and professionals the most common complaint that I get about raters is: 1) that many don't play well (to put it kindly; at a well-known course the DoG told me that I was the best player by far among the many raters he had played with after I posted a score in the mid 80s.), 2) that they don't seem to study the course and take notes as I do (to which I reply by saying that some guys like Matt Ward and Geoffrey Childs have near-photographic minds, a talent that I never had, thus my need for memory aids).
A third complain that I hear occasionally is that they (course personnel) sometimes get the sense that the raters don't like or appreciate some aspects of their course. In this area, raters do have to walk a fine line. Few people appreciate to have their baby criticized, even constructively. Some know where the warts are and are offended by insincere compliments. And most know, at least subconciously, when their course is being damned by benign praise. While my first reaction to all this is that if you ask for an honest opinion, please be willing to accept it in the spirit it was given, I have to remind myself that raters are guests and that there are ways to convey one's views without being offensive (some would say that I haven't always been successful in this area).
Jeff, by all means report the bad characters. Talk of politics and tinkering with the ballots as retribution is just that. You may also want to differentiate between the raters which are relatively few in number and others who are normally comped in the industry. As a group, I would be surprised if raters do not fare very well.
Concerning comping employess of those clubs who reciprocate, I was reminded of a conversation with a head pro of another well-known course in GA. It seems that during the last week of the spring that ANGC is open, they allow many of the area pros to play the course. Apparently, the pros at ANGC need a place to play during the summer and early fall and, not without some regrets I am sure, they've had to provide some access to their brethren. I don't know if superintendents are afforded the same privilidges.
Jeff, are we teaming up again at the KPIII? I will have a new major swing thought for 2004, #9,501. And despite all the new techonology, I am still woefully short (but that's more of a personal problem). I am looking forward to that egalitarian golf mecca, SoCal, and Rustic Canyon, the way of the future.