I have long followed the career of current (but perhaps not for too much longer) New York Governor Elliot Spitzer. He made his national reputation as an ambitious Attorney General for the state of New York who was very loud and prominent in rooting out corruption in a series of high-profile scandals involving health care companies, gun manufacturers, and power companies, and I'm sure a lot of other issues as well. A Progressive Democrat, he lived up to his political ideology by using the power of government to punish wayward companies who did not live up to their moral obligations with customers and the general public at large. While I admired his stands against corruption, I still feel ambivalent about what such intervention means on a large scale about the freedoms of the citizenry at large.
Spitzer's highly publicized investigations against corporate malfeasance earned him a recent election to become governor of the state of New York. It was there that Mr. Spitzer's problems began to grow, as the highly popular attorney general found himself a deeply unpopular governor. Ironically, the two scandals that have dogged his time in Albany, one of which appears to have brought him down, involve corruption and the abuse of power. The lesson to the rest of us, would be anti-corruption crusaders or not, is a sobering one.
The first major scandal that I know about at least involves his abuse of power in a spectacular way. Having problems with the lead Republican in the New York Legislature, he used his aides to try to dig up dirty news to discredit his opponent and force him to resign. This was not a success, as the revealing of the attempt led to Spitzer losing his own reputation for moral probity in power. Once it was revealed that he sought to discredit his opponents through dirty tricks, it became possible to wonder if he had done the same thing as Attorney General, itself a very serious problem. Of course, Spitzer could choose to deny that he ordered his aides to do such investigations, but such a denial rings hollow, as aides generally do not go digging up dirt on the political opponents of their bosses unless there is either a specific order to do so or it is the general behavior of their boss. Neither would reflect well on the Governor.
The other scandal, that appears to have brought down his administration completely (and that may end up destroying his marriage), involves his identity as Client #9 in an investigation of a high-class prostitution ring. Apparently he spent over $4000 just before Valentine's Day for a high-class prostitute named "Kirsten" from a prostitution ring based out of New York that is under investigation by the Feds and the IRS. His call to the agency, and the agency's response, show that he was not a first-time client. Obviously, this reflects poorly on an anti-corruption and stern moralist sort of politician, more so than it would an obviously corrupt one. It looks like Spitzer's political career is over, but there are some lessons that might be useful for future people in like positions.
It appears, in this day and age, that nothing is really private. While I lament this personally, I suppose that as a rather nosy and public person (public enough, at any rate, to discuss delicate subjects online), that I am part of the problem. At any rate, if you are a person in a public position (whether in government, in business, or in private organizations), you cannot expect any of your personal conduct to remain private whatsoever. I know that in previous times leaders got a way with a lot of things, but the desire for information and the high levels of tracking and publicity present nowadays make it almost impossible to keep a secret life for long. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing I cannot say--I could argue it both ways depending on whether I was looking in the abstract or in the particular. Since the private conduct of people is no longer really all that private (sometimes because of our own stupidity and brazenness in the matter), it behooves all of the ambitious sorts among us to be a lot more honest and humble about ourselves. Being holier-than-thou nowadays is a bad call, and almost all the time it seems that the verdict on such would-be crusaders is the sobering one, "Physician, heal thyself." Ridding corruption from within and without still seems a rather difficult task, even more difficult when examining its spread within us all.
This blog, hopefully, will contain brief and humorous bits from my day-to-day life, with a minimum of philosophizing (though probably a lot of dry and ironic humor). The thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own, and may be occasionally written in a facetious manner.
Posts
2 comments:
"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." - Ephesians 5:11, NIV
Eliot Spitzer practiced this verse to some extent. And in the last week, others have returned the favor.
It's struck me for years as strange that many Church of God ministers and members warn about the government raiding their privacy -- everything from street-corner cameras to collecting Social Security numbers.
God will judge even the secret things, according to Ecc. 12:14. So ultimately, the "right to privacy" argument is a farce.
Don't fear what men can do to you. Fear what God can do.
The truth is, we all do, think, and say (or, occasionally, write) things we would rather wish did not become public knowledge. In this day and age it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep such things private. You speak correctly that spiritually speaking our deeds are not hidden anyway, and by implication that the less private the life we have the more meet the rigorous spiritual demand of openness, but that doesn't make it any easier to see one's sins and faults in the public eye under harsh and bitter scrutiny. The more we are judged by men, though, the less that remains unpunished for God. I suppose that is something positive we can take from that. Alas, it is to no credit if we are beaten for our faults--and some of us, myself included, have all too many of those.
Post a Comment