Gary Pearce posted on May 01, 2012 08:58
A capital veteran says of the Charles Thomas/lobbyist scandal:
“Sex between legislators, staffers and lobbyists isn’t anything new. Been going on for years. What’s new about this is a private investigator hired by an undisclosed client did the N&O’s investigation and the N&O printed the result. This is a spooky precedent.”
Laura Leslie at WRAL reported: “Thomas said he believes the private investigator was hired and paid by a political enemy. He declined to name that person on the record but said he is looking into it.”
It is the nature of politicians who get caught to blame their political enemies, not themselves. See the claims of “right wing conspiracy” in the N.C. Democratic Party’s recent sex scandal.
Maybe Thomas should blame Newt Gingrich. Newt pioneered the modern politics of personal demonization and political destruction in his path to power in 1994. Then he tried to do the same thing to President Clinton.
This year Gingrich found himself the victim of personal destruction, at the hands of Mitt Romney’s super PACs. A fitting irony of history for the man who says his historical insights netted him millions of dollars in consulting fees.
So how can anyone in public life today be surprised to find themselves in the unforgiving public eye – or, in the case of Thomas, private eye?
Had Thomas heard of John Edwards? Did wall-to-wall coverage of Edwards’ trial maybe suggest it’s not wise for a public official to get involved with another woman? (While his wife has cancer, to top it off.)
Thomas told WRAL: "No elected official has ever been targeted like this, let alone a non-elected staff member. This is going to open the floodgates."
He’s wrong. The floodgates have been wide open for a long time. Anybody and everybody in public office is a target. The only question is whether politicians will figure that out – and act accordingly.
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