Tired of Politicians Behaving Badly

A week or so before last Christmas I ran into Charlie Dent at the Target store in South Whitehall. He was dressed down in a running suit, wearing his glasses and trying his best to look as incognito as possible for our local congressman. All we did was exchange hellos, but it looked like he was doing the same thing as me – running errands on a Saturday morning.

I have some political differences with Charlie, a longtime Republican moderate who has veered to the political right – at least, his votes seem to indicate that – since he went to Washington a few years ago. But it is hard to not respect him. He’s a local boy who is as down-to-earth as they come. He does well by his constituents. Even when he votes against a program that will help local residents, he works behind the scenes to make sure they are taken care of.

Besides, he’s just a likeable guy … probably because he is not afraid to dress down and run errands for the family at Target. I can’t see Anthony Weiner running errands at a Target. Or John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Larry Craig, Chris Lee, John Ensign or any of the other arrogant politicians who seem to think the law and public morals stop applying to them when they are elected to public office.

Most of those guys were involved in some sort of sex scandal and many faced charges of hypocrisy because they committed these acts in defiance of their “family values” campaign platforms and public personas. But it’s not just sex. Take the story of state Sen. Bob Mensch who was recently found guilty in local court of waving a gun at another motorist on Interstate 78 earlier this year. Mensch, who represents Salisbury Township and other parts of southern Lehigh and Northampton counties. denies it but there was apparently enough evidence to convince a district magistrate that he was guilty.

It seems like every day there is another personal or political issue involving our elected officials in Harrisburg and Washington. I know some people say that they are human and they shouldn’t be held to higher standards than anyone else. But I don’t buy that. They ran for office. They claimed to have all the answers. They want us to think they are better than we are. And we do.

And all too often, we are disappointed.

It’s our own fault. We don’t look closely enough at our candidates. Hell, we don’t even vote with any regularity. We leave elections to extremists who support only those who promote their views.

We deserve what we get.