<p>I wonder if there was any “misappropriation of funds” in all of this.</p>
<p>^^^Good question.<br>
Was any of AWs sexting or other inappropriate online activities done at his congressional office?</p>
<p>I don’t see any harassment (in the radaronline stuff, which is the only stuff I’ve seen), just exchanges that would be perfectly fine between two single people.</p>
<p>The stuff that AW was writing is what some of us moms, with high school and middle school kids, re trying to get through their thick head that they should not be doing. For a congressman to be at that level is really disheartening. He is that stupid to leave the evidence all over the frigging internet to boot. I have serious doubts about this ones judgment. If he is that stupid, he shouldn’t be dealing with the matters of state.</p>
<p>Is it illegal for a husband or wife to call or text his/her spouse from the office? If single, his/her girlfriend or boyfriend? I don’t think those are inappropriate, so I don’t think calling/texting the person you’re cheating with is any more illegal, and I don’t think it should be.</p>
<p>Weiner cheated on his seemingly very nice wife. He lied about it. Both of those are skeevy, but that’s pretty much it (as far as I can tell); no harassment, no underage girls. He’s bad, but no worse than the other sleazy cheating politicians, who seem to be equally distributed in both parties.</p>
<p>He lied to more people then his wife…how about he lied to everyone…and asked some porn star to lie for him to provide cover…and said he was hacked,which could be a crime,if it were true,which it wasn’t…AND there is likley an ethics clause to which he paid little attention…</p>
<p>So, none of you thinks that what happened with Gennette Cordova might qualify as harassment? That sure sounds unsolicited to me.</p>
<p><a href=“Weiner’s Reckless Pattern: Political Admirers Became Online Pursuits - The New York Times”>Weiner’s Reckless Pattern: Political Admirers Became Online Pursuits - The New York Times;
<p>Not exactly “equally distributed”, especially in the past three decades.</p>
<p>[List</a> of federal political sex scandals in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States]List”>List of federal political sex scandals in the United States - Wikipedia)
[List</a> of state and local political sex scandals in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_local_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States]List”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_local_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States)</p>
<p>Federal - since 2000 - 5 from party A, 18 from party B. Looking back, 1990 to present: 8 from Party A, 29 from Party B. If we look at 1980 to present-- 14 from Party A, 34 from Party B</p>
<p>State and local:
2000 to present: 8 Party A, 22 Party B.
Records here are very sparse prior to 2000.</p>
<p>Note that there are 3 females listed, all from the same party, one federal, 2 state/local. Chenoweth was a HUGE “family values” person - yet her adultery (apparently multiple episodes) is all but forgotten here - took several hundred posts for LasMa to bring it up (thanks LasMa - I remembered her vividly, but was too busy to research it and post here). It was a “youthful indiscretion” - she was in her 40s at the time -like several others that came to light in 1998, and she was forgiven by Jesus. Nikki Haley’s escapades in SC came to light quite recently, but escaped mention. I guess there just wasn’t much press coverage of Chenoweth or Haley.</p>
<p>On edit - one huge omission from the Wikipedia lists - Giuliani. Probably belongs on the Federal list, since he was a Presidential candidate. So now - 2000-present, federal: 5 party A, 19 Party B; 1990-present 8 A, 30 B; 1980-present 14 to 35.</p>
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<p>I had to laugh at this. Corporate America would come to a screeching halt if action were taken against people that texted/im’d/viewed porn…or maybe even spent time on CC! Yes, I know you are referring to AW and taxpayer dollars, but my consumer dollars subsidize corporate salaries and I don’t see the difference. </p>
<p>I could give a rat’s ass what he does personally as long is his professional judgements are good.</p>
<p>That being said, as a woman I wouldn’t put up with him. What a putz.</p>
<p>On CNN it was reported that Weiner’s wife wants him to stay in Congress. The bigger question, of course, is does she want him in the house?</p>
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<p>My question is isn’t poor personal judgment reflective of all judgment? In the military, it would be called gross lack of judgment and I don’t think that they differentiate between personal (obviously those that are discovered) and professional decisions.</p>
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<p>No, I don’t think it is harassment. It is obnoxious and repulsive, but they weren’t face to face at any time, there wasn’t a pattern of conduct, etc- why is it harrasment? He had not been told not to do it. If she said never to contact her again and he kept sending pictures, then yes.</p>
<p>Momcat, thanks for the links. Very enlightening…</p>
<p>As far as I know, Nikki Haley’s “escapades” were never proved. She denied them, and her accusers produced no proof. People lie, but we have no way to know whether it was Haley or her accusers who were lying.</p>
<p>The political sex scandals have been concentrated in one party, but I have trouble believing that garden variety adultery is more prevalent among Party A. I suspect that there are plenty of Congressional cheaters in both parties.</p>
<p>lima, if you mention the name of a political party, your post will be edited or deleted.</p>
<p>“I could give a rat’s ass what he does personally as long is his professional judgements are good.”</p>
<p>That’s a perfectly reasonable position when it comes to doctors, engineers, wealth managers, etc. I don’t think it makes sense for a politician. Congressional politics is, by definition, a PR business. It is just a reality that sex scandals weaken a legislator’s effectiveness. How many bills has he been able to work on this week, and is he more or less likely to attract co-sponsors now that he’s a national punch line? What are the odds of passing the Democratic agenda he professes to support, compared to last month? Whatever your mastery of policy may be, generating a bunch of horrible press that dominates the news cycle for days means that you screwed up in your political job. It’s the ne plus ultra of bad professional judgment for politicians.</p>
<p>This is the same argument I made when Larry Summers generated all of his bad press. It doesn’t matter whether you’re right or wrong, or whether you are entitled to say/do what you want, or whether it’s anybody else’s business. If you’re in a PR job, paid to be a public leader, the face of an institution, and you kick up a media storm, then your professional judgment sucks.</p>
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Since this Weiner is a public political figure with potential influence on legislation and on other politicians, it seems that Twitter would have a viable libel lawsuit it could make against him for falsely very publicly stating that Twitter was hacked which implies they have inadequate security procedures in place which could, in turn, cost them business.</p>
<p>I feel bad about his wife. It’s likely that this was a sex addiction which he had a hard time stopping, and she was probably blindsided by this. How horrible. </p>
<p>If he had simply been tweeting or the online exchanges, it would be one thing. Had he said at that press conference, Mea Culpa, it would have been done, IMO. It’s the lying at the press conference and backpedaling that will boot him from office.</p>
<p>Sopranomom, you’re welcome. Thought some facts were called for. They are enlightening.</p>
<p>VItter lied (and he did something <em>illegal</em>) and Sanford lied (Appalachian Trail, anyone). Both finished out their terms.</p>