Scandals can't sting shameless

Democrats stand tall when committing acts of crime

by Michael Graham
DNN Staff- EXCLUSIVE!
Monday, Aug. 16, 2010

“No, I am not resigning! No, no, no, not at all. That’s a strong no.”

So said Fall River City Councilor Brian Bigelow after allegedly trying to push through his own (ahem) stimulus package on an undercover cop. And you know something? He’s right. Why should he resign?

So what if he was caught in a prostitution sting on the streets of Fall River? His case just goes to prove that when it comes to Massachusetts Democrats, you can’t keep a good man down.

Uh, let me rephrase that . . .

There was a time when a politician, busted allegedly cruising for hookers in the seedier parts of town late on a Saturday night, would have quietly resigned and gone into hiding. A few years later there’d be a news story buried in the back pages about him being hired for some obscure, middle-management government job. There he’d stay with his head down, padding his pension and biding his time.

That was in the B.C. political era. As in “Before Clinton.”

Set aside the “meaning of ‘is’ is” loopholes and lawyering. The part of the Clinton saga that always fascinated me was how the guy found the guts to show up for work every day after getting caught with an intern under the Oval Office desk. Forget Ken Starr and messy dresses - why didn’t Bill Clinton resign out of sheer shame?

If I’d been caught playing human humidor with a college-aged kid, I would have been too embarrassed to keep my job at the Dollar Store, much less as Leader of the Free World.

But today, the idea of a n’er-do-well Democrat resigning merely for getting caught seems odd - even quaint.

Rep. Charlie Rangel? He’s 80, ethically-challenged and he ain’t goin’ nowhere. First he claimed God told him “you don’t have to take a plea” with the House ethics committee. Then he claimed the GOP wouldn’t let him cut a deal. But the one thing nobody has suggested is that Rangel would be so embarrassed by the tax evasion /rent control/donation scam scandals that he’d just go away. Not a chance.

The same for Rep. Maxine Waters. According to the House ethics committee, Waters’ husband had $250,000 in OneUnited stock when she used her power to promote the bank’s bailout. But resign over it?

Democrats just don’t do that. Not in Washington or Massachusetts.

Dianne Wilkerson, Jim Marzilli, Anthony Galluccio, Sal DiMasi - we all knew what they had done long before they finally, grudgingly, left office. They didn’t slink away in shame. They were dragged kicking and screaming from the public trough.

More interesting is how little pressure there has been from Democrats for these elected officials to resign.

Remember when police arrested Taunton City Councilor Daniel Barbour for “lewd and lascivious behavior”? He allegedly solicited a cop in a sex sting. He was still a city councilor when, with the help of his defense attorney, Rep. James Fagan, he got a judge to let him off the hook. Barbour will likely run for re-election.

I don’t know if Councilor Bigelow has called Fagan’s law office yet, but surely he’s learned how low Democrats set the bar for their elected office holders. Just ride it out, hope for a friendly judge and count on your fellow Democrats to keep their mouths shut.

Joseph Welch once famously asked Sen. Joseph McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”

My question today is: Does anyone?

Rep. Charles Rangel told the House last Tuesday
that he’s not resigning despite 13 charges of
wrongdoing and demanded the ethics committee
to not leave him "swinging in the wind."
(DNN Staff photo)

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