Politicians With Their Pants Down

BY MOIRA MOYNIHAN

I am not a New Yorker.  However, having been here for the summer, watching the city prepare for its upcoming election, I’ve got a bone to pick with some of the horses in these races. Currently, there are no fewer than three men running for office who have sex scandals behind their names. I hesitate to even use this terminology because “sex scandal” seems to imply that this was just some extramarital tryst, so I’d like to emphasize that the actions of each of these men were either a) non-consensual and uninvited or b) illegal.

Let’s start with the smallest political office. Vito Lopez, a former New York State Assemblyman, is now in the running for a seat on the City Council. Lopez has a storied record from his time in the assembly, from allegedly groping employees to encouraging young female staffers to wear revealing tops and high heels. Despite being fully cognizant of Lopez’s behavior, the state assembly initially shielded him from investigations, failing to report him to the ethics committee. Though Lopez eventually resigned in disgrace, he was not out of the public eye for long. As he vies for a seat on City Council, Lopez undoubtedly hopes that voters’ memories are short.

Though many New York voters were unsure of what exactly a comptroller does a week ago, since disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer has thrown his hat into the ring, the race for the seat is receiving historic levels of media coverage. His time as governor was spent being unable to “comptroll” himself, indulging in regular sessions with call girls. I think it’s worth noting that despite feeling qualified to handle NYC’s bank accounts, Spitzer was brought down by the fact that he left the most obvious paper trail in the history of New York, writing checks to pay for his prostitutes.  This lack of financial secrecy savvy adds an ironic note to the frequent assumption that Mr. Spitzer is overqualified for the job.  Though he may have done some good for the state of New York, his moral compass brings his credibility as a public leader and representative into question. We must not forgo the fact that New York City remains the nation’s capitol for human trafficking and prostitution.  How can Mr. Spitzer possibly feel qualified to represent a public who so desperately needs its officials to protect vulnerable girls and women, when he himself has given large sums of money to the very industry that oppresses them? I will concede that Mr. Spitzer did pass valuable anti-trafficking legislation during his term as governor, but his inability to adhere to the morality he legislated adds “hypocrisy” to the list of reasons I don’t support him as a candidate. Despite this stain on his record, Spitzer can hold onto the fact that his criminal record remains clean, because rich male politicians rarely get charged for buying sex.

Finally, there is the pun-iest candidate of them all: Anthony Weiner. Weiner was, as I’m sure we all fondly remember, tied up in a sexting/tweeting scandal, sending pictures of his genitalia to women who had not asked for them. After initially denying reports that that was, in fact, his Weiner, the then Congressman admitted that his knowledge of social media security was too little and that he had indeed sent the photos. Rather than spend his time out of public office regaining his former constituents’ trust, Weiner quickly turned to the private sector as a consultant. He is now asking for a second chance, though he has seemingly done nothing to deserve it. What’s more, despite his insistence that this behavior ended after his resignation from Congress, it appears that “Carlos Danger” continued to engage in the very practices he’d sworn to have ended. Not only does he seem incapable of stopping, but an ability to tell the truth similarly escapes his grasp.

I joke about these candidates because I do not think any of them is seriously qualified for the offices they seek, and frankly, I am sick of this type of behavior. While I feel unqualified to judge anyone’s sexual preferences or behaviors, my fundamental objection to these specific behaviors comes as a matter of consent and legality.  Female staffers of Lopez did not ask for commentary on how their skirts could be shorter, nor did they ask to be touched.  Spitzer’s money helped fuel an industry which has oppressed women since the beginning of human history. Weiner sexually harassed women, sending them explicit photos that they did not ask for and then lied about it to the public. Male politicians have spent centuries sweeping their sexual exploits under the rug, getting away with it through well-guarded secrets and carefully abused male privilege. At what point are we going to say enough is enough? From the days of Jefferson to those of Kennedy, it was easy to keep these wrong-doings under wraps. But today, with the omnipresence of social media and the constant flux of information, we can no longer justify our forgiveness with ignorance. Is this really all we expect from our nation’s leaders? Is it too much to ask that they respect women or at least don’t help finance an industry that oppresses so many? When are we going to say it’s not acceptable?

Off the top of my head, these are three scandals of many in recent years. We’ve seen Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Silvio Berlusconi, Bill Clinton, David Vitter, John Edwards, Mark Sanford and many more succumb to their own vices in the public eye. It’s not too much to ask that their affairs are honest, consensual, and legal. That’s the bare minimum. So New York, let’s hope you can hold them to this low, low bar. Let’s make it clear in the voting booth that “No” means “No.”