So David Paterson will not seek reelection; a few days ago, the New York Times revealed that Paterson meddled where he had no authority, calling a woman who had taken out a protective order against one of his longtime aides; some said the act came close to meeting the legal definition of attempting to intimidate a witness.
The man Paterson replaced, Democrat Eliot Spitzer, is infamous for hiring prostitutes. The madam who provided him with the prostitutes is running for his office; she also alleges Spitzer was not the only governor who was a client of hers.
This news will probably bump another New York Democratic politician’s troubles out of the headlines; the House Ethics Committee has found that Ways and Means chairman Charles Rangel violated House rules by failing to properly disclose financial details of trips to the Caribbean.
Rangel spent yesterday at the health-care summit, where he spoke along with Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), who is also not seeking reelection, due to lousy poll numbers stemming in part from his sweetheart mortgage and a special “cottage” in Ireland that he undervalued on several years’ worth of financial disclosure forms.
We’re awaiting word from another Democrat, Rep. William Delahunt (D., Mass.), on whether he’ll retire; he’s facing the accusation that as district attorney, he shrugged off the potential threat posed by Alabama campus killer Amy Bishop in his handling of the 1986 shooting death of Bishop’s 18-year-old brother, Seth.
But at least all of this gets John Edwards out of the news.
The common thread here is a twisted sense of entitlement; all of these folks in high office encountered circumstances where the rules and laws that the rest of us have to follow proved inconvenient, too inconvenient to interrupt the important work of these important men.
Yes, the Republicans have their jerks and losers too. But they operate in an environment where the mainstream media are ready to pounce and expose them. Sometimes the mainstream press gets interested in a Democrat’s misdeeds, as with Paterson; but often, it’s left to the National Enquirer, because everyone who covers John Edwards can just instinctively sense what an ethical, decent, and caring man he is.
Oh, and all of the commercials during the Olympics remind us that Rod Blagojevich is on “The Apprentice.”