The private lives of public officials

As happens every so often, we have recently been through a spate of embarrassing reports about the lives of prominent public officials, including South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and former presidential candidate John Edwards.

What should we do when a politician’s life goes off the rails? The answer, I’m afraid, is that there is no answer. Each of us can only respond according to our own inner compass.

If the misbehavior threatens to bring discredit to the institution in which the politician serves, of course, things are a bit different. Then, important questions need to be investigated and answered: Was public money involved? Did a politician abuse his or her position of power? Were any laws broken?

In the end, though, the final judgment is often left up to us, as voters. When an elected official misbehaves, all we can do is to make the best decision we can, rooted in what we know about the case and our own personal reaction.
 
Lee Hamilton,
Director of the Center on Congress at IU and member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years