The guy with the socks up. The guy with the pants down. The
guy with the headlocks. The guy who tweets and deletes.
What is it with these male politicos? And why are they all
Jewish?
The cloistered community that is Washington’s Jewish elite
collectively choked a little Saturday morning as it progressed through a column
in which Gail Collins of The New York Times named the protagonists of what she
dubbed the “Weiner Spitzer summer.”
“Ever since the Clinton impeachment crisis, we’ve been
discovering how much personal misbehavior we’re prepared to ignore in elected
officials,” Collins wrote. “Hypocrisy, for sure. Adultery, definitely. Chronic
lying, maybe. Financial skullduggery, possibly.”
Those seeking absolution this month for past misdeeds
include Anthony Weiner, now running for New York mayor, who quit Congress in
2011 after he was caught saluting a female Twitter fan in his boxer briefs;
Eliot Spitzer, now in a bid to be Gotham’s comptroller, who quit as the state’s
governor in 2008 after the revelation that he patronized high-priced call girls
— and allegedly kept his knee-highs on while doing so; and Bob Filner, who quit
Congress last year to become San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years and
is now facing a welter of sexual harassment claims, including allegations
involving something called the “Filner headlock.”
Collins also bewilderingly brought in the bewildering case
of Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who was caught tweeting and deleting messages to
a bikini model during the State of the Union address in February. Turns out she
was his recently discovered love child. Then it was discovered she wasn’t. Then
he commented on the looks of a reporter who asked him about the situation.
In her column, Collins did not identify the protagonists as
Jewish, but their collective appearance in print unsettled Jewish political
players who were whispering their names at social gatherings over the weekend.
“If we need a reminder of how Jews are like everyone else,
this is a useful one,” said Ann Lewis, who as White House communications
director managed the fallout from President Bill Clinton’s sex scandal and
whose brother, former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, was caught up in
a scandal in the 1980s involving a gay escort. “It does help bring us down to
earth.”
Unlike other lawmakers caught in scandal, Lewis said, Jewish
politicos are less likely to face the charges of hypocrisy that have afflicted
others caught with their pants down.
“Jewish politicians by and large have not been huge
advocates of patrolling other people’s sex lives,” Lewis said.
The cases all have their own particularities.
Spitzer’s lapses were crimes, though he was never prosecuted
for them. Filner’s might yet land him in court; his former communications
director said this week that she was suing the mayor for sexual harassment.
Weiner’s is just bizarre, though no one has suggested it is criminal. And Cohen
is a rare case of smoke being just smoke, sans fire.
Filner thus far has rejected calls for his resignation,
while Spitzer and Weiner are both trying to rehabilitate their political
careers after retreating from the spotlight in the wake of the scandals. On
Monday, however, Weiner acknowledged that he had sent more explicit photos and
texts to a woman, though the exact date of the exchange was unclear.
The Cohen saga began in February, when reporters noticed his
tweet to bikini model Victoria Brink, who had told Cohen via Twitter that she
had seen him on TV. “pleased u r watching, ilu,” he replied, using the
shorthand for “I love you.”
The unmarried Cohen had a relationship with Brink’s mother,
who had told the congressman that the model was his daughter. CNN reported last
week, however, that a DNA test showed Cohen and Brink are not related.
Asked about the situation by a young female reporter, Cohen
said, “You’re very attractive, but I’m not talking about it.” Cohen almost
immediately sought out the reporter to apologize, saying he had not meant
anything untoward.
“Been tough week, then this,” Cohen said in a tweet. “Sad 2
say I’m not perfect.”
Political observers attribute the various scandals to the
same factors that have led other politicians into the halls of shame:
arrogance, insularity and just plain loneliness.
“Anyone who wants to run for Congress has to be a little bit
crazy, and that includes Jewish members of Congress,” said a longtime Capitol
Hill staffer who has worked for a number of Jewish lawmakers — none tinged by
scandal.
The perpetual fundraising, unfettered accolades from
supporters and the rarity of staffers who push back when a boss crosses the
line insulate lawmakers from reality checks, according to a number of Hill
staffers. The rigors of living one’s life under the constant glare of media
scrutiny may also be a factor.
“When people are separated from their families for a long
period of time, things occur that wouldn’t necessarily occur if your family was
there,” said Robert Wexler, a former congressman who described his first months
in Washington as hellish, eventually leading to his decision to move his family
north so he could spend more time with them.
The move was not without a price. In 2008, Wexler came under
fire when it was revealed he no longer maintained a residence in his Florida
constituency.
“Eventually, your political opponent will claim you are of
Washington,” he said.
Sex scandals have not always sounded the death knell for political
careers.
Frank continued to serve in Congress for more than two
decades after revelations that he patronized a male escort and then hired him
as a personal aide. Weiner is leading in several recent polls, and has never
polled lower than second since declaring his candidacy in May. And Spitzer
enjoys a commanding lead over his Democratic primary opponent, Scott Stringer,
the Jewish Manhattan borough president.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Lewis said. “They have a
lot of work to do, but if I go back and think about Jewish tradition, you are
encouraged to give people another chance.”
But the scandals have certainly exacted a price. Barbara
Goldberg Goldman, a leading Democratic fundraiser, said the Weiner scandal was
a factor in her decision to fundraise for one of his opponents, City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn.
“Because I am Jewish, because I am a Democrat and I am
active in that arena, I see it as a tragedy” that Weiner and Spitzer are
running again, Goldman said.
“There are many fine qualified candidates out there who do
not come with the baggage,” she said. “Find another day job. It’s chutzpah.”
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