Seeking Forgiveness?

I have been watching with great interest the attempts at rejuvenating the political careers of former Congressman Anthony Weiner and former New York  Governor Eliot Spitzer.

For those not paying attention, Congressman Weiner is a candidate for Mayor of New York City who decided to resign his seat in the U.S. House over a scandal involving his taking pictures of his muscular abs, butt, and…well…weiner (although all of the pictures I’ve seen at least had said “private areas” covered by underwear (looked like Hanes boxer briefs, in fact), and I’m not searching for pictures without the underwear.  He then sent these pictures to fans via the Twitter feed that he used for communication with his constituents.  Threatened with censure (likely), removal from office (decidedly unlikely), or losing his next election (even less likely than removal considering his continued popularity in his district even in the immediate aftermath of the scandal), he resigned.

Governor Spitzer resigned his office in the wake of revelations that he visited a high-class call girl.  Threatened with impeachment and likely removal from office, he resigned.  Recently, Governor Spitzer announced that he was circulating a petition to get his name on the ballot for the Democratic nomination for Comptroller of New York City.

Both of these men are in the process of that most entertaining of American political processes: the seeking of forgiveness and redemption.

The reason I bring up anything involving Democratic or New York City politics is that people are widely equating the two acts that the men committed (and both of them admitted their “guilt” in their resignations and subsequent addresses).

What Congressman Weiner did was in extremely bad taste and possibly a violation of his wedding vows (depends on your definition of faithfulness).  It was a crime against decency and his spouse, but not actually a crime.  The women he sent the pictures to acknowledged their disgust (at least some of them did) but they did not file criminal or even civil charges against him.  Governor Spitzer, on the other hand, violated the laws of the State of New York.  He, too, violated his marriage vows (although some people think it’s hip to cheat, apparently), but, in addition, he actually broke the law.  The very reality that made Weiner’s removal from office decidedly unlikely (the fact that he didn’t violate a law) contributed to the fact that Spitzer would have, most likely, been removed.

So, forgive if you want. But recognize the fact that what these men did was decidedly different.  I can understand the thought that NYC might want a mayor whose greatest crime was bad taste.  But, do they want a Comptroller who engineered actual criminal activity?

I guess that’s for the voters of NYC to decide, but I know how I would vote.