There's a whole lot of misbehavin' goin' on

Publication: Globe and Mail

John Ibbitson
March 20, 2008

David Paterson had never expected to become governor of New York. But then Eliot Spitzer got caught having an alleged dalliance with a lady of the evening, and suddenly the affable lieutenant-governor was taking the oath in Albany.

Unfortunately, the post-inaugural celebration was barely under way before a reporter started asking questions about an alleged affair the governor may have had.

So Mr. Paterson disclosed this week that, yes, he had had several affairs during his marriage. But that was okay; so had his wife.

The new governor will probably survive: Extramarital liaisons, at least heterosexual ones, are not grounds for dismissal, provided Mr. Paterson did not use his party's or the taxpayer's money for his trysts.

But there are an awful lot of misbehaving public figures, these days, who are making the front page for sins that infuriate some readers and delight others. As in so many other things, when Americans have a scandal, they do it right.

Consider just a few, a very few, of the contretemps currently dominating the headlines:

In Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will learn next week whether he is to be charged for perjury. In testimony, he denied having an affair with his chief of staff, but text messages that were made public revealed that he sure did.

"And did you miss me sexually?" she asked in an exchange. "Hell yeah," he replied. "You couldn't tell. I want some more. Don't sleep!"

Now that's one strictly professional relationship.

New Jersey is caught up in a did-they-or-didn't-they tizzy over former governor James McGreevey. The then-married governor resigned almost four years ago, after revealing that he was gay.

The McGreeveys are embroiled in a fierce divorce. The governor's former aide and chauffeur, Teddy Pedersen, told a tabloid that Dina Matos McGreevey's claims she knew nothing about her husband's sexual ambiguities had to be false, since he had regularly participated in a "hardcore consensual sex orgy" with the couple.

Ms. McGreevey swears it ain't so. Mr. McGreevey says it is.

It's not always about sex, of course. More often than not, it's about money. In Mississippi, it looks like Dickie Scruggs is going to jail. Mr. Scruggs is one of America's most famous attorneys, having wrung billions for plaintiffs over asbestos, tobacco and Katrina lawsuits.

But Mr. Scruggs last week pleaded guilty to trying to bribe a judge in a dispute over legal fees. The prosecution is asking for five years.

The police are also busy in Washington. (They usually are.) The National Republican Congressional Committee, which raises money to help elect GOP congressmen, called in the FBI last month after it discovered that at least $990,000 had gone missing. The culprit is allegedly the committee's former treasurer, Christopher Ward, who appears to have diverted large amounts of money from the committee's accounts to his own, which he covered up by fabricating audit reports.

"The evidence we have here today indicates we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual," mourned NRCC chairman Tom Cole.

The Republicans so don't need this right now.

Not that the Democrats should chortle too much. William Jefferson, who has represented his Louisiana district in Congress since 1991, has been indicted for (deep breath) racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

All that for allegedly helping businesses expand into Africa, often with the help of U.S. government money, in exchange for under-the-table cash, lots of it.

At the moment, there are three senators, 11 representatives and nine former representatives who have been indicted or who are under investigation, according to the website Congresspedia.

There are good reasons why so many American politicians try to line their pockets. Individual politicians at the federal level wield greater power than their counterparts in many other countries (backbench Canadian MPs couldn't be seriously corrupt, even if they wanted to); the pioneer tradition and loathing of excessive regulation make it easier to steal.

As for the moral scandals, the media are far more aggressive in pursuit of sleaze than are their Canadian counterparts. And in a nation that expects its leaders to demonstrate their Christian commitment, betraying that commitment carries greater political risk.

It all makes for splashy front pages and breathless cable news reporters. It lets people from other countries shake their heads at the goings-on in the U.S.A. It also makes them jealous.