I am not one inclined to judge the morals of others. Who a prosecutor is lusting after (committing “adultery in his heart”, as Jimmy Carter might say) is not something I consider to be my business, or anyone else’s, except . . .
Except that the prosecutor in question is the individual who orders the DA’s office’s policy not to agree to less than 10 days in jail for any person (hooker, hustler, or john) charged with prostitution. The prosecutor in question? Elected Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal (who, incidentally, describes the path to lethal injection as “the pipeline“).
According to an article by the Houston Chronicle’s Brian Rogers, Chuck is fighting in federal court to keep secret his emails (from his county email account, which would make them generally subject to the Texas Public Information Act), in which he kanoodles virtually with his executive secretary, with whom he had an affair in the 1980s. (Chuck says that he told his current wife, whom he married in 1991, about the affair before hiring Stevens as his executive assistant when he took office in 2000.)
“While the 51 e-mails between the two contain the phrase ‘I love you’ more than a dozen times,” the Chronicle writes, “and Rosenthal asks Stevens to let him hold her, the messages are not explicit.” An example in the Chronicle article: “The very next time I see you, I want to kiss you behind your right ear.”
Morals aren’t on my beat. Hypocrisy, however, is. When the prosecutor who has made himself and his office responsible for enforcing the morals of consenting adults (Rosenthal is also the prosecutor who, arguing the constitutionality of Texas’s sodomy statute in the Supreme Court, was “outclassed“) is publicly revealed to be no more moral than the rest of us (including those he persecutes), I smell karma in the air. It smells like . . . victory.
(See also: Chuck’s Apology and Le Procureur Soleil de la Republique?)
Tags: Prosecutors
This entry was posted by Mark Bennett
on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Prosecutors.
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She doesn’t have a high enough position to be getting a tax-payer funded county car like she does.
Gary,
You may be right; some might see an abuse of public trust in the mere fact that an elected official hires his ex-paramour at $75k a year.
The Chief Law Enforcement Authority in the County has sworn and taken an sacred oath to be ethical, fair, and non-bias. He is expected to a beacon of justice and fairness. The hiring of an ex-girlfriend, the use of public computers and a county vehicle for his ex-girlfriend / Executive Secretary personal use combined with limited supervision is a perk all county employees would cherish. At the very least the ability to make fair and impartial decisions is in question. I’d venture to say you will find other improprieties as well. Personally, I have no problem with him being in love with his ex-girlfriend, but perhaps should get a divorce before things escalate beyond the office.
On what planet do they expect the DA to be a beacon of justice and fairness?
Whether things have escalated beyond the office would only be our business if we were talking about a guy who imposes his public morals on others.
Wheee! Isn’t hypocrisy just the most fun?