I lived in New York when Eliot Spitzer ran for Attorney General. I liked him. I voted for him. And I am quite disappointed in him right now. But as usual, I have a little different opinion on things than most people do and I think it needs to be taken into consideration.

I think people that choose to serve in public office should be commended. From what I can tell it is a difficult life. You travel from place to place asking people to vote for you. After you do that you ask people to go out and ask OTHER people to spread the word that you are a great person and that they should vote for you. You ask rich people to give you money so you can make it into office and then, when they do, you worry about how much access they will want to you, and how many special interests they’ll have once you get in office. Then you ask THOSE rich people to ask their rich friends to give you money because you’re such a great person and you’ll be really great in office for all the things rich people need.

Then you go to the poor side of town where they don’t have so much money, but they really need a hard working person in office to stand up for their rights. You tell them that you’re a really swell person and you won’t let big business or big government walk all over the hard working people of the state. So they give you a little bit of money and tell you that they will tell all their friends to vote for you because you’re a really honest, hard working person that they can trust. And you just hope that they don’t find out how rich some of your friends are.
All during the campaign your family supports you and wishes you well, even though they miss you so much because you are on the road all the time trying to get elected. It is a hard journey, but they know you want it and they want you to be happy and fulfilled in your work.

Once in a while you might make a bad decision or do something you know isn’t moral or ethical, but what the heck? Everybody does it, and no one will ever know anyway. So it will be ok. And all the good people of the state get you elected and you are very grateful and you are a good person and you work really hard. Sometimes you have a bad day and make a bad decision, but for the most part you are a really good public servant. You do well by the people.

Then, that day comes when someone finds out about a bad decision you made one day way back when…. It was a very bad day, indeed. It may have been the worst day you ever had, and the worst decision you ever made. But now everyone knows about it and you have to face up to it. You have worked all your life for the people of this state, the country, and it boils down the worst day you ever had. Is that fair? Is that right? You put bad people in jail. You put good people to work. You gave sick people money so they didn’t have to work and could look after their families. You gave hard working people raises, better healthcare, safer cities, better education, safer toys, safer water, more opportunities. You did you best most every day you went to the office. You hired the best people you knew to help you do your best. And it comes down to the worst day you ever had in your life?

I don’t have all the answers. Not by a long shot. I don’t know if public servants should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us. I don’t know if private lives that happen behind closed doors should be public record just because you are a public person. But I do know this: I don’t want to have to answer for the worst day of my life and have it erase every good thing I ever did. I know Eliot Spitzer broke the law, but why does he have to leave his job? He put away more bad people than I could in my lifetime. Doesn’t that count for something? I’d divorce his ass, make him pay a HUGE fine, but make him leave his job? I’m just not sure.

America says its a “Christian” country. For those of you confused on the concept that means “Christ-like”. Christ’s best schtick was forgiveness - its what he was known for, you might say! It seems like America sits around waiting for the next person to screw up so we can nail them to the cross (pardon the pun). Unless we start forgiving people for being human we are quickly going to run out of folks that are willing to run for public office. Indeed, it seems like a waste of human assets as well as monetary assets to get people into places where they can do us good just to watch them fall from grace. It was wrong to do it to Bill Clinton. Eliot Spitzer’s circumstances are a little different, but where does it end?