When Ilinois dems ousted [self-made millionaire] Lt. Governor candidate Scott Lee Cohen last year because [his divorce] papers revealed, among other things, steroid use and a history of violence against women, the party bet against one of their own before really knowing anything other than scandal equaled bad and thought Cohen could take one for the team.
When Ilinois republicans ousted [self-made millionaire] Jack Ryan because his divorce papers revealed that he enjoyed a more robust menu of sexual behaviors than most politicians are ever allowed, they gambled on conservative values and ultimately lost.
And when I say lost, I mean Alan Keyes.
Each candidate had already won the primary for their respective parties heading into a general election before the news broke on each of their scandals. Jack Ryan was the republican nominee running against Obama in the 2004 Illinois senate race. It was because of this scandal that the psychotic Alan Keyes was pit against Obama, and basically swore Obama into his senate seat the moment Keyes opened his mouth.
Should the media continue to acquire and expose candidates' divorce records? And should the two major political parties stop denouncing those that are caught "behaving badly" in their private lives? Do we, the public, have a right to know everything about someone who is running for office?
Consequentially, Scott Lee Cohen financed his own campaign as an independent for Illinois Governor against his former running mate, Pat Quinn, and may have competently swayed the election if he had become a more popular candidate (or been included in any of the debates).
His specialty was finger-pointing and smear in a series of hilarious ads that really didn't identify why he was the best choice for any reason other than he wasn't a puppy-killing tyrant or, Pat Quinn.
Jack Ryan founded a media company which publishes hyperlocal community newspapers (in print and online) in eight plush suburbs to the north and southwest of Chicago now. An interesting move by someone who blamed the Chicago media for his resignation from the Senate race in 2004.
In an interview with a Dartmouth College publication, Ryan told his alma mater about the implications of his situation and the troubled precedent set by it. He described his case as a new low for the political process, warning it obstructs the best people from the job of public office if we continue to expose details of personal lives divulged in divorce proceedings. Besides trying to prevent a crisis in the campaign , Ryan fought against the release of these documents because he thought (and rightly so) that it would harm his child later on.
In his divorce from actress Jeri Ryan (Star Trek), she claimed Jack brought her to sex clubs and asked her to participate in exhibitionism there. But she was in the sex club, where exhibitionism is routine, and one might wonder what else should she have expected? It was speculated that she was using this information in court to seek advantage in the custodial decisions regarding their son, and potentially a financial settlement.
It has been more or less established that Scott Lee Cohen was no prince, but even in his muddied past, there was no clear, proven, or documented evidence that he had ever been convicted of certain activities with sex workers that might have involved a sharp weapon, rather, he was only accused. In Cohen's case, it does seem that exposing his past in whatever means possible enabled the public to judge allegations that might have struck him out if found viable. The Illinois Dems decided swiftly that carrying another scandal would be too risky for Pat Quinn only after becoming governor himself in the manner that he did (Blago's impeachment).
However, the Illinois public would have been prevented from judging Cohen at the polls because of the Democratic party's decision if he were not a multi-millionaire able to make his own way in the financial black hole that is campaigning for statewide office in Illinois.
Had Jack Ryan continued in the race for Senate with the backing of the Illinois GOP, it's fathomable he might have defeated Barack Obama- even if he was trailing him at the time of his dropout. It's also fathomable that an unfair sex scandal drowned Obama's worthy opponent in the Senate race, and that Obama's then national exposure was attained in a cakewalk created by the Illinois Republican Party when they nominated a lemon.
Considering these outcomes, I'll ask again. Should the media continue to dig up candidates' divorce records? And should the two major political parties stop denouncing those that are caught "behaving badly" in their private lives? Do we, the public, have a right to know everything about someone who is running for office?
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