Seize the Sleaze

Comes now my colleague, Assemblywoman Linda "the Spender" Stender, and her fellow Democratic Congressional aspirant Paul Aronsohn calling on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign. The charge: that under his watch, a gay Republican sent inappropriate E-mails to a former House Page.

Now, the idea that the Speaker would somehow cover up that actions of a gay pedophile for political advantage seems, on its face, patently absurd. Virtually every district in the country is so gerrymandered that the other has little chance of a pickup. It would have been a small matter to persuade Foley to step aside long ago, replacing him with another readily electable Republican.

But do we detect the umistakeable odor of hypocrisy emanating from the Democratic camps?

Aronsohn’s website shows him holding a "Clinton" sign. Surely you remember Bill Clinton? You know, the guy who engaged in a sexual liaison with a subordinate of the sort that would get most CEOs instantly cashiered? The guy who then lied about it, under oath, sometimes referred to as "perjury", an action so egregious that his home state revoked his license to practice law? At the time, the same man who is, now, so outraged about the Speaker’s asserted failure to take some action actually served in the Administration of the aforementioned Bill Clinton.

An internet search, and a perusal of Arohsohn’s website, fails to reveal any commentary suggesting even the slightest embarrassment over Clinton’s actions. No call for Clinton to resign. Aronsohn did not resign in protest. Nada.

Having completed his service to the Administration of an adjudicated perjurer, Aronsohn returned to New Jersey to serve in Administration of that paragon of virtue, James E. McGreevey. Let’s see. McGreevey puts his lover on the payroll. His top aides are investigated for profiteering on billboard deals. He appoints numerous folks to high office who engage in unethical and, indeed, almost criminal behavior. Aronsohn’s role? Mouthpiece, defending the least defensible administration ever to occupy the State House.

Aronsohn now admits, with the unparalleled courage of hindsight, that what McGreevey did was wrong. But where was his courage at the time? Where was his righteous anger then? Where was his resignation in protest, his call upon the Governor to resign, his inexpressible outrage at a time when it might have made a difference? The search reveals not a single syllable from Aronsohn protesting the patently improper – perhaps criminal – actions of McGreevey or his cronies.

Similarly, a search fails to record so much as a single quote from Assemblywoman Stender critical of Jim McGreevey while he was in office. Indeed, she supported all his programs, his insane tax increases, his absurd spending increases, his outrageous borrowing. And that’s only the policy side. Although one of the quieter Members – the only bill she sponsored which achieved any measure of notoriety was one which urged censorship and book banning – she might, if she had the slightest courage, have spoken out, urging the Governor to resign, when it became apparent that he put his gay lover on the payroll, let alone when it became clear that his Administration represented a full-employment program from every rogue, scoundrel, and profiteer in the Party.

Unlike the Democrats, who remain loyal to their sleazeballs, as they did with Garry Studds, who actually engaged in sex acts with a 17 year old male page, the Republicans would never have tolerated Foley in their midst, once his actions were known. The assertion that Speaker Hastert knew about these charges, and yet did nothing, seems preposterous on its face. The idea that he should resign his post because one Member engaged in gross behavior is absurd. Although both Arohnsohn and Stender were either too young or simply anonymous at the time of the last Page scandal, my memory does not include any calls from prominent Democrats for the resignation of then Speaker Tip O’Neill.

Aronsohn’s website claims that he "... rejects extreme partisanship". It is to laugh. Essentially every Democrat in the country has seized upon the unconscionable behavior of one Member for "extremely partisan" purposes, as if ANY Republican supported that sort of behavior.

New polls show that just about as many people are disgusted by the display of partisan opportunism as they are by Foley’s abominable conduct. In attempting to smear the GOP with this particular scandal, the Dems may finally have gone too far, and demonstrated to the public that there is no level to which they will not stoop in their insatiable quest for power.