Wednesday, June 24, 2009
They're Only Human But Enough Is Enough
| June is proving to be quite a month in regards to the next Presidential election. In just this week alone, two high profile, potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 have disgraced themselves, their families, their party and their constituents. Earlier in the week Nevada’s Senator John Ensign admitted to an extramarital affair. The revelation undid any ground that his very early trips to Iowa may have covered. Ironically Ensign still polls higher among Nevadans than his counterpart in the Senate, Harry Reid but as for being the next President of the United States, well that aspiration has been blown out of the water. But leaving the west coast, as we approach the east and the end of the same week, South Carolina’s Governor, Mark Sanford has had to face the nation with his own admission of infidelity and an extramarital affair. The circumstances surrounding Sanford’s disclosure were only made more dramatic by the lead up to his admission. After disappearing for seven days governor’s M.I.A. status raised alarm. After all it is not often that a prominent state governor with responsibilities to millions of people just vanishes without any clue to his whereabouts. However such was the case with Sanford. Irresponsible, irrational, reckless, erratic, suspicious, worrisome…………these were just some of the words used to define the situation. Then suddenly, Governor Sanford appears and it was determined that his sudden return from seclusion came to fruition after a flight from Argentina brought him back to the states. With a dramatic backdrop of intrigue and rampant speculation the Governor came clean and admitted that his disappearance was the result of his need to clear his head of all the political pressure he has been enduring and to begin to resolve the personal conflict he has been struggling with for a year a more. It was a struggle between two loves. One was the love of his loyal wife of twenty years and the other a spontaneous love that was sparked between two friends. Whatever the circumstances, much like Senator John Ensign, Governor Sanford derailed his career. In his public admission he made clear that he understands he has disappointed many including his family, friends, hard working staff and citizens of South Carolina. That is a big improvement from the waving of another famous philanderers finger as he looked into the camera and declared with all sincerity the he “did not have sexual relations with that woman” when actually he did. Repeatedly. But it is still not enough to indicate that Mark Sanford, or even John Ensign have the integrity and fortitude to be trusted with leading our nation. Or does it? Liberals rushed to President Bill Clinton’s defense claiming that his personal life had nothing to do with his ability to lead America in the right direction. Would they go so far as to make that same claim for Sanford or Ensign if they pursued the presidency? I think not. More often than not, as I have proven on many occasions, liberal politics is based on hypocritical thinking. However in this case they shouldn't be jumping to Ensign’s and Sanford’s defense anyway. Neither should Republicans. Although there is a big difference between the Clinton extramarital related scandal and the two latest Republican scandals, none of them are right. The difference with Sanford and Ensign though is that they did not break federal law by lying under oath and perjuring themselves. That is the big difference. Liberals try to claim that the Clinton impeachment hearings were about sex when in fact it was about the nation’s Commander and Chief lying under oath. Yet the lack of perjury by Sanford or Ensign still does not let them off the hook. Of course they can legally continue to do their jobs and I will add, to continue doing those jobs as well as they have, but they must also suffer the consequences of their misdeeds. In this case those consequences are a loss of trust and confidence. Such a loss of trust surely makes higher office with greater public responsibilities out of the question. At the moment it even brings rise to doubts about the confidence that people have in either one of them as it pertains to their current responsibilities. But this begs to question whether or not we hold our public officials to unreal standard or not. I do not believe we do. I believe that we should expect higher standards from our elected officials. They are suppose to be examples that we can admire, want to emulate and have full confidence in. In our nation faith in our government is the backbone of our democracy. Unfortunately we have many reasons to question our faith in our government. Not because of the system but because of our lack of faith and trust in the people controlling the system. That is why I believe that even though our elected officials are only human, it is necessary to hold them to a higher standard. Some years ago, I resigned from my job as the New York City Regional Director for the New York State Assembly Republicans. It was job that I probably would have been better off keeping. But I resigned my post to dedicate two entire years to laying the ground work for the election of a man from Brooklyn to the New York State Senate. There were many roadblocks to his election but I believed in him and what he stood for. After one of the most hellacious and contested special elections of the time, he won. To get to that victory we went through hell and high water so I truly cherished the win and vowed to do all that could be done to insure that we served the people of that senate district well. I had become good friends with this man whom I helped to elect to the state senate and I served as his Chief of Staff. A few months into his first term in office, he told me about a young lady he met in Albany and whom he was taking to dinner one night. She was an intern for a Democrat Senator, also from Brooklyn. They met on the senate floor. I did not think much of it until I realized that while he was forty, she was twenty one. I also realized that after his highly contentious election, he was also being highly scrutinized. Well, one date with this young lady and the Senator turned into another and another and pretty soon they were everywhere together. As both the senator's close friend and his Chief of Staff I finally addressed my concerns with the Senator. He smiled and brushed it all off. That bothered me a bit. In fact so much so that I looked him in the eye and said “hey you know what, you, me and dozens of other people sacrificed and dedicated to much to get here and you have no right to jeopardize it all for a fling”. This friend, this Senator, is 6’5” to my 5’6”. The size difference is ominous enough but when angered his size only compounded the difference and after my explosion he was angry. With a pointed finger in my face and his eyes red with fury he looked me in my own eyes and said “don’t you ever tell me what I can or can’t do in my personal life and don’t you ever think you have to tell me how hard it was to get here. It was my name on the ballot, not yours. Now get outta here.” I was devastated. Not only was he my boss, he was also a close friend and at the moment he was furious with me. I felt that I just destroyed a friendship and jeopardized my career all at the same time. For the next few weeks a cold chill existed between the two of us as we conducted business as usual. As time went by, both in Albany and at home, in the district, there were murmurs about the new senator and his new young intern but they were just that, murmurs. Many months later they were engaged and I am glad to say that more than a decade later they are married with children and living happily ever after. Clearly I was wrong when I confronted the Senator the way I did. Our elected officials have the right to their own lives. They are not required to stop living in order to improve the quality of our own lives and I was being irrationally cautious about the senator I served. But my overly cautious concerns were created by the fact that all politicians are scrutinized to a level that is often almost unreal. But such is the case when one voluntarily puts their name on the ballot and asks for the privilege of representing his fellow citizens. At the same time it is really not too much to ask that our elected officials demonstrate some sense of right and wrong and some sense of control and fortitude. Who they sleep with is not any of our business but their senses of commitment and their sincerity is our business. In the case of my Brooklyn Senator, he was doing nothing wrong but I worried about even the mere chance that someone would hint of some unsavory conduct. That is why I find the discretions of Sanford and Ensign and so many other Democrats and Republicans alike so hard to accept. I was not an elected official and yet the public trust was something that I committed myself to. When I have been in any position of public trust, I spend my days and nights walking on eggshells as I adjust every aspect of my life in such a way that no hint of impropriety can be thrown my way. I view the faith and trust of public service almost as a religious institution. I see it as sacred and as a time of personal sacrifice. There are no strip clubs, go-go dancers or lap dances for me when I serve in a capacity that serves the taxpayers. The sacrifices one must make for public service include avoiding any conduct that could even be interpreted as improper. Maybe that is easy for me because I do not see serving in any one elected office as a lifetime job. I see the overly cautious conditions I place myself under as a temporary condition, a short mission. A mission that once completed will allow me to be more relaxed and less guarded about the impressions I create. The way I see it, if I were a Governor of a state, I would put my life on hold for four years. Those four years would be devoted to nothing else other than the job at hand. Such a commitment would not permit me the opportunity or time to explore and establish new personal relationships that would enable me to cheat on my partner. When my temporary service was over, my focus could return to amore of a focus on and in the personal aspects of my life. But that is me. And ultimately, I have not served in elected office so it might just be a bit unfair for me to say exactly what I would do if I were a Governor or Senator. I am sure that people like John Ensign and Mark Sanford set out intending to be the most ethical and above reproach elected officials in the nation too. The bottom line is that even though our politicians are only human, they are suppose to be the best examples of what humanity has to offer. They are suppose to be people who can uphold commitments, do the right thing and set good examples. This week Sanford and Ensign failed us and no matter how you look at it, once again, politicians have achieved to create more doubt in them then trust in them. For that we all lose this week. |
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