The governor of South Carolina admitted to having an affair today, finally ending speculation and confusion over where he had disappeared to after the legislative session in that state had ended (link). The admission will doubtless bring up the seemingly endless debate over how important the private actions of a public servant is to their official role in government; over what should be private and what should be public.
But in this case, that isn’t the issue. His family claims they didn’t know where he was, which at a personal level is obviously troubling. But, more importantly, neither did his staff or the lieutenant governor. He is the chief executive of the state, and if an unexpected emergency had struck, the resulting confusion and delays could have been disastrous.
In the same vein, when public officials (like the former mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick) use their power and influence illegally and inappropriately (like trying to fire police investigating him) to cover up embarrassing personal situations (like the affair he was having with his Chief of Staff), their private affairs are secondary and tangential to the more important and serious breach of public trust.
Doing something illegal to hide an embarrassment is more pertinent and a greater violation than the actual embarrassment.
Or, as the saying goes, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up.”
– Burr
Fed Locally 