Public officials and sex. They seem to go hand in hand. It’s probably because absolute power not only corrupts absolutely, it perverts absolutely, too. Throughout history those in power have abused it to satisfy their most carnal urges, either gaining praise for their actions (JFK and Marilyn) or having their reigns rocked by controversy (Bill Clinton and Monica).
Such impropriety can be seen at all levels of government. I don’t know if it’s a sign of the times, but it seems to be getting worse; just look at how many sex scandals have reared their ugly heads in the past half dozen months: Politically-connected “massage” parlors that used Asian slaves were busted in Niagara County, the clientele of which included many public servants. A former Lockport police chief and a retired state Supreme Court judge were busted for taking a young woman across state borders to provide her body to conventioneers. A handful of local teachers have been in the courts for dabbling in sexual behavior with their underage students. Our governor resigned because of his tryst with a prostitute and he was replaced by someone who admitted to cheating on his wife on numerous occasions.
Those individuals in question are only those who’ve been in the news lately. Many more morally-corrupt people are employed as their peers, controlling how we live while they participate in some of the darkest behaviors imaginable.
Such offensive indiscretions have become so commonplace that people are becoming numb to them, so much so that a recurring philosophical question of late has been: “Do the personal values of public servants really matter?”
Unfortunately — maybe yet another sign of the times — many folks have answered a resounding “no” to that question. They seem content in someone, anyone, being in power, regardless of that person’s moral fiber.
Those apologists are ignorant to the management of good government, failing to understand that honest-to-goodness family values and high morality will always have an important role in government service. When we the people entrust and pay others to oversee all facets of our society and economy, we would hope that they approach their job with the utmost attention to detail while fully comprehending the rights, wrongs and consequences of the decisions. The impact of these decisions is inescapable: They provide our protection, they offer health and family services, they educate the masses, they regulate the businesses that employ us and they tax our hard-earned incomes.
The chances are very good that if the officials can’t keep their personal lives in order their professional lives will be in disorder as well. The inability to distinguish between good and bad is not a fleeting thing, it is a way of being that permeates every decision an individual makes throughout his life. All of your actions — whether at home or work — are a result of who you are inside.
I expect that my public servants should live their lives with character, because that character will make itself known in how they serve the people, and how legitimate that service may be. The scandalous creeps cannot serve us well. Do you really want the police officer clientele of those massage parlors looking out for your well-being when they couldn’t even protect the young slave girls whose bodies and minds they violated? Do you want judges determining your guilt or innocence when they cannot comprehend what is legally or philosophically appropriate? Do you want to entrust your child to a teacher who looks at her like a piece of meat? Do you want a governor managing a $124 billion budget made up of your money when he can’t even manage his own personal life in good taste?
Some would say we can’t regulate or demand morality. But, we can and we do. The armed forces of the United States — by far our most important and valuable public servants — demand that all soldiers follow a strict code of conduct, one based in well-founded personal convictions. The Army alone has a set of seven values for our men and women in uniform: loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity and courage. These are timeless values that all public servants (and a matter of fact, all Americans) should follow, realizing that our military succeeds where all others fail because of this simple yet powerful set of rules to live by. Values really do matter.
Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda. E-mail him at bobconfer@juno.com.
Bob Confer
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Discussion
April 8, 2008
CONFER: Values do matter in public service
- Bob Confer
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CONFER: Climate security and economic run
We live in an era of much unrest in which people fear for their security, be it socially (terror threats), economically (recession), or environmentally (global warming). Feeding off this, our elected officials have been quite successful in using fear-mongering to introduce endless amounts of legislation that do much more harm than good.
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CONFER: Downstate interests cause gas pains
Last week the New York Senate voted for a holiday on the state’s gas tax, calling for suspension of the government markup during the summer months (Memorial Day through Labor Day). Sure, it’s most definitely an election year tactic by the Republican Senate, a sort of sales gimmick for incumbency, but nonetheless it is still a welcomed and much-needed gesture.
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CONFER: Catholics and the almighty dollar
When I tell people I live in Gasport many of them respond with a resounding, “That’s God’s Country!”
That, it is. It’s a beautiful area and a great place to live. But, come June, it will be a little less godly. St. Mary’s Church, the sole Roman Catholic in our hamlet, is one of almost 90 Catholic churches that will be — or have been — closed or merged by the Buffalo Diocese. -
CONFER: Young blood needed in community
Last week’s column was probably the most popular one I’ve written. My inbox was flooded with e-mails from all across the United States, everyone to a person agreeing with my analysis of how our state’s political climate makes it darn near impossible to live and work in the Empire State, in the end forcing our dear family and friends to greener pastures far away.
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CONFER: Why your loved ones have left NY
The chances are very good that you know someone who has left New York. According to the US Census Bureau, from July 2006 to July 2007 the Buffalo-Niagara region lost 5,166 people and since 2000 the Rochester area has lost over 7,300 of its residents.
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CONFER: Values do matter in public service
Public officials and sex. They seem to go hand in hand. It’s probably because absolute power not only corrupts absolutely, it perverts absolutely, too. Throughout history those in power have abused it to satisfy their most carnal urges, either gaining praise for their actions (JFK and Marilyn) or having their reigns rocked by controversy (Bill Clinton and Monica).
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CONFER: The importance of Tom Christy
I’ll admit, at times my columns can be a little dry. When it comes to expounding on government it can be difficult to make the subject matter palatable to the average person. Government affects every one of us, but, boy, can it ever be boring. People can only hear so much about how government works, where it is broken and how it can be fixed.
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CONFER: The new governor's black eye
When Eliot Spitzer was elected to office in 2006 by a record-setting 69 percent of the vote, his massive victory was declared a mandate of the people. The voters wanted serious change, someone who would come into Albany and clean-up all the dirt. Here it is, not even a year and a half later, and the man who fed that incredible optimism has proven to be no better than the rest and, actually, dirtier than most. Spitzer has left office with a reign that will be recognized as the greatest political letdown in the history of the state.
- CONFER: No new taxes — just bigger ones Last week in the state capital the legislature and Governor Spitzer were arguing over what the budget deficit would be for fiscal year 2008-2009. This wasn’t quibbling over pennies; their differences were in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Spitzer believes the deficit will be $4.8 billion.
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CONFER: The candidates and American jobs
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
That phrase, made famous by James Carville for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign 16 years ago, still rings true to this day. It always has and always will. - More Bob Confer Headlines
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