Mark Noonan: May Gov. Gibbons Have A Private Life?
The other day an aggressive television crew went after Governor Gibbons as he arrived at an airport – confronting him, it would seem, over his traveling with a woman who is alleged to have been his mistress prior to his divorce. An editorial over at Reno News and Review takes issue with this:
“We’d rather be boiled in oil than find ourselves on the same side with Gov. Jim Gibbons, but events last week make it necessary.
“No, we’re not talking about his role in the special session. There, he was as useless as ever.
“It’s the matter of his being confronted at the Reno airport as he arrived back from a governor’s conference in Washington, D.C., that prompts our taking his side…
“…But what was the camera crew doing there in the first place? Clearly, they had information that he had gone to the nation’s capital in the company of a woman who was named many months ago in his divorce action as his mistress.
“But that naming was then. Time has passed. The governor is separated from his wife, has dated a number of women since the separation, and he’s entitled to do so. What was newsworthy about his doing so again?”
What is judged to be “newsworthy” is, of course, entirely subjective. If I were running a newspaper then stories about Hollywood stars cheating on each other wouldn’t even appear – but such is the fodder of news organizations because it brings in readers/viewers (I would probably be a very unsuccessful newspaper owner). A certain set of people, apparently considered valuable by advertisers, are drawn like moths to a flame by scandal, especially if there is a sexual/adulterous angle to it.
What was newsworthy about Gibbons arrival with that woman? It was part of the salacious story of Gibbons’ divorce. I’m surprised that only one news crew was there – though that might merely be a reflection of Gibbons’ almost-certain loss in the upcoming GOP primary. He’s a bit old news, and may soon be a has-been. Now, if one of the two Republicans or one Democrat seeking to unseat him were to have a scandal, then there would be 50 screaming journalists at every stop.
To say that Gibbons has a private life and that it must be respected is absurd. It was Gibbons, by his decision, who entered public life and thus surrendered immediately any claim to complete privacy. It was Gibbons, by his decision, who then – as a public figure – decided not to live up to the vow he made to the former Mrs. Gibbons. Anything resultant upon those decisions is just something Gibbons will have to live with.
It doesn’t matter, as the linked article goes on to note, that the lady in question asserted that Gibbons is an honorable man. Honorable men can get in all sorts of trouble. Gibbons might have been caught up in only one, stupid mistake and it resulted in his divorce. But one or one in a series, he made the mistake and he made it on purpose because he wanted to do something he knew beforehand he shouldn’t do.
Gibbons only defense against intrusive reporters would have been to resign his position when the story broke. If he wants a private life, then let him retire to private life. Its a little late in the day after you’ve had a messy divorce in the public square to demand a private life. After a flurry of media attention, he would have then swiftly faded in to the background and could then have arrived at an airport with a dozen women in tow with no cameras to confront.
Too often in our modern world there is an insistence that people not pay the full price for their errors. Coupled with this is a great deal of excuse-making – both by the person who made the mistake, as well as others who for goodness knows what reason want to let a guy off the hook for his stupidity. This is not to say that there is no forgiveness – of course there is. But even with forgiveness, there is a price to be paid. Gibbons is now paying the price for both his error and his unwillingness, once caught, to do the most honorable thing, which would have been to resign.
Let this be a lesson to all those who seek public office. If you are determined upon it, then consult your conscience and determine whether or not you are willing to keep your word – all of it; to family, friends and fellow citizens. If you feel for a moment that you might break your word, then don’t go in to politics. If you still decide to go ahead even so, then be prepared to pay the full price for your broken vows.
And for those of us on the outside, let’s not offer any excuses or try to soften the blows which idiocy will deliver to the self. The next governor should have Gibbons’ fate in mind as he goes through his term of office – it might help keep him on the straight and narrow.
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