As many a media columnist and commentator have pointed out since Adam Giambrone bowed out of Toronto’s mayoralty race when it came to light that he was a big old cheater, the man’s private life is none of our business and should have no bearing on his ability to do his job.
I tend to agree. And every time another political sexual scandal comes to light, I can’t help wondering how all of us would stand up if our ability to do our job were based on how we conduct our private romantic lives.
But his privacy isn’t the issue, many other media columnists and commentators cried. The issue is that he lied about it when confronted by the media.
How can we put up with a politician who lies? Right, because politicians have such a great reputation for not lying. Would we have been happier if he’d simply come right out and said, “Yes, I’m a big old cheater”?
No, of course not. That would be political suicide. Giambrone knew this. He admitted as much in a text to Kristen Lucas, the young university student with whom he was having an affair, when explaining why live-in girlfriend Sarah McQuarrie and not Lucas would be by his side during the campaign: “It is important for the campaign … I had to have someone political,” he wrote.
So, while the rest of us run around wrestling with the realistic challenges of finding, keeping and maintaining love in a social landscape of constantly shifting and expanding sexual mores, we still expect our politicians to project a 1950s sitcom image of family stability.
In other words, we want our politicians to be human, relatable and accessible but still morally and ethically less flawed than the rest of us.
Ultimately, I don’t care about the sex life of my politicians and, yes, I do care about their honesty. But, maybe if we didn’t expect our politicians to come across like Ward Cleaver with June at his side, they’d feel less pressure to lie about their perhaps-less-than-perfect personal lives.
By the way, Hugh Beaumont, the actor who played Ward Cleaver on Leave It To Beaver — the ultimate 1950s family sitcom — had an absent father and his own real-life marriage ended in divorce.
