Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer apparently isn't the only politician in New York's capital who believes sex is part of the job benefits package. His political suicide in the recent call-girl prostitution scandal has thrown a spotlight on the seamier side of politics where sex greases palms as often as money. The joke going around the statehouse -- that Spitzer's the only guy in Albany who pays for sex -- is as enlightening as it is disturbing.
It seems there's a lot of fooling around going on in Albany, not all of it by prostitutes. Only hours after being sworn in as New York's new governor, David Patterson confessed to having extramarital affairs with numerous women when he was a state senator. His wife also confessed to having an affair. Politicians, staff, interns, lobbyists and reporters regularly gather at local bars after hours, many looking to hook up for the night. Sex is the currency in which political favors are bought and sold.
According to Albany insiders, until just a few years ago intern selection at the start of each new legislative session gave new meaning to the term "cattle call." In a tradition going back decades, interns were herded into a statehouse newsstand where legislators made their selections based on looks, not resumes.
"Unfortunately, many of the people who seek public office are flawed people to begin with, and the environment in Albany just tends to bring that out," Paul Clyne, former Albany district attorney, told the Associated Press. It was Clyne's scathing 2004 report on the intern program that led to reforms and an end to fraternization between legislators and interns.
And the problem isn't limited to New York. Power, politics and sex have long been bedfellows. Sexual politics and prostitution are part of the political scene nationwide and in Washington, D.C. Sex has brought senators and congressmen to their knees and nearly forced President Clinton out of office in 1998. A 2004 sex scandal was the undoing of former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and derailed Colorado Sen. Gary Hart's 1988 presidential aspirations.
"It really is not anything new," said Tom Fiedler, a lecturer at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and former Miami Herald reporter who covered the Hart scandal. "I would have no reason to believe any public officer is any less susceptible to temptations of the flesh than anyone who is not in public office."
Your inclusion of Sen. Hart in this context is, at the least, a twist of logic. He was never even accused of a criminal act (if there was a criminal act, it was on the part of the reporters spying on him and invading his privacy). Nor was anything ever proved. He has continued his exemplary citizenship and public service, demonstrating over and over his brilliance and prescience. He and his (only) wife have been married now one year short of 50. It's time to leave them alone.