Things like this are the reason that I don’t expect to be any happier with my government when the next election comes around.  We expect our politicians to be pretty much full of crap, but when you have one that takes it to the next level of audacity, you have to stand up and take notice.

The article that I linked to is a little old now and more information has surfaced that doesn’t help Mahoney’s cause, but the gist of it is there.  Basically, Rep. Mahoney had an affair with a woman on his staff and then paid her $121,000 to keep her quiet after he fired her.  That alone is bad enough, but

“Mahoney himself was elected in 2006 after a sex scandal involving inappropriate communications between underage congressional pages and former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.). Mahoney ran on a campaign to restore moral dignity to the office.”

Seriously?  You’re going to bring moral dignity back to the office by having, what you admit to be, multiple affairs.  Anyone that has ever discussed fidelity with me knows without a doubt that cheating is something I can’t stand.  Even when I watch movies or TV shows, I actually get angry and agitated.  So the cheating is bad enough, but then you’re going to be a colossal, hypocritical ass and claim that you have some kind of moral authority to bring respect back to an office.  That’s just insulting.

Then there’s this great quote from Politico via CBS:

“I would have come forward earlier but making sure my family is ok is far more important than any political career,” Mahoney said. ”I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter.”

First, he wouldn’t have come forward at all if he could have gotten away with it.  Then, I’m insulted again that he claims that his family is priority number one.  If it really was, he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.  He lied about his family values before to gain political advantage, why should anyone believe him now?  Then on top of that, he almost qualifies his guilt by arguing that he didn’t violate his oath of office or any laws so its really not that big a deal or of public concern.  Again, if he hadn’t made his moral compass a central plank of his platform, it wouldn’t be as much of a public issue, but he did and so it is.

The silver lining of this whole thing is that he was found out for what he really is and that he won’t be adding his shovel of dirt to politics on any significant scale any more.  In the mixed feelings category, I’m truly sorry for his wife and what she’s having to endure by having the breaking of her marriage play out in front of the country, but I’m glad that a political wife that got cheated on isn’t hesitating to get a divorce.  I just hope that she can get through this quickly and move on with her life.