Corruption and Hypocrisy – Just another Day in American Government

I just finished reading through several articles about Eliot Spitzer, the NY Governor who was recently caught with his hand in the cookie jar…if you are willing to call the cookie jar a $4,000 per night prostitute.

As if it wasn’t bad enough when 3 years ago NJ Governor James McGreevey announced his intent to resign from office after his involvement in a gay love affair.  Then there was Florida Rep. Mark Foley in 2006 who had the bright idea of sending sexually explicit IMs and emails to congressional pages.  I’ll bet he was shocked when he got caught.  How about LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa?  At least his affair with a local TV reporter wasn’t a paid arrangement, it only cost him his marriage and his credibility as a trustworthy leader of the second largest city in the U.S.

Of course, Spitzer wasn’t the only high ranking gov’t official who paid heavily for sweet lovin’.  Let’s not forget Louisiana Senator David Vitter who just last year was identified as a regular client of Pamela Martin and Associates (an escort service in D.C.).  And then there was Idaho Senator Larry Craig, who unlike Spitzer and Vitter, kept the budget for his sexual encounters on the frugal side by opting for the less plush accommodations of the men’s room toilet stalls in airports…with other men.

What has me the most puzzled about this sort of behavior is the fact that these guys all had to work hard, really hard, to land themselves in the positions that they were in.  It is easy to understand the pressures that these guys have on their shoulders from the offices that they hold, but the moral ineptitude that they have all displayed is simply pathetic.

If these men were not interested in setting a positive example for the constituents that they represented, they should have found alternate sources of employment.  This sort of behavior is a slap in the face to the families that supported them, the volunteers who worked on their campaigns and the citizens who relied on their judgment and leadership to make our country a better place.