“Run for office? No. I’ve slept with too many women, I’ve done too many drugs and I’ve been to too many parties.” – George Clooney, when asked about his political future.
Most of us do not share the movie actor’s intriguing past, sadly enough. Yet most of us probably possess a history that would still disqualify us as candidates for elected office. (But judging from the histories of the past two presidents, perhaps moral constraints are loosening up a bit).
Many voters still expect a morally flawless candidate – typically on an ethical level sharply higher than our own. The only candidate who could live up to James Dobson’s towering standards stopped practicing politics 2,000 years ago.
How much does character really matter to the average Coloradan voter? Isn’t it more about popularity? Or ideology? Or party affiliation? Where do we draw the line?
Down in Centennial, for instance, a young man who recently pleaded guilty to harassing and stalking his former girlfriend is running for City Council.
I don’t know much about George Jia Shen other than he was sentenced to two years’ probation and was ordered to receive a mental-health evaluation. At 23, maybe all he needs is a little seasoning and an opportunity to conjure up better excuses. I do know that any way you flip his situation – and I’ll save you the details – we’re talking about someone who showed some remarkably poor judgment.
So how long does the public hold a candidate accountable for their actions? In Denver, we have an at-large candidate for school board – and the teachers union choice: John McBride. He had to deal with an arrest warrant for unpaid traffic tickets – and let he who is without a ticket throw the first yellow summons – and to answer for older charges related to shoplifting. (McBride doesn’t remember much about the incident.)
A longtime Denver community activist, McBride was also arrested in 1968 on arson charges stemming from firebombing a Denver Catholic school filled with students.
Two phrases that never complement each other: “firebombing” and “school board.”
McBride claims he was irate so many years ago because the school had failed to lower its flag after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in April 1968. Talk about completely missing the point of King’s nonviolence message.
McBride was only 18 back then. And no doubt he is extraordinarily sorry for his transgression. But even an 18-year-old, on some level, needs to be held responsible for the crimes he commits. This was a violent action with potentially devastating consequences.
What about McBride’s former association with the Black Panther Party? Should we care? Would voters care if a candidate had passed out literature for another violent group – say, the Ku Klux Klan? I believe they would.
No one is claiming that McBride ought to pay with blood or beg or spend the rest of his life explaining why he was a radically minded 18year-old. But once you throw a Molotov cocktail in the vicinity of children, a school board position might not be the best position for you.
An incident involving school board candidate Rita Montero is also interesting. She was questioned in 1974 for her ties to six Chicano student “activists” – they sound more like violent fanatics – who unintentionally blew themselves up in two car explosions.
Montero was detained by police after a timer was found in her car. She knew the people involved. What’s most troubling and shady about this incident is that Montero refused to speak to a grand jury about the case. We still don’t know what happened.
Maybe all these cases stemmed from misunderstandings. Young people make mistakes. I tend to support candidates for their ideological viewpoint and can forgive plenty.
In the end, I sure would hate to be judged by my actions and words at 18. Then again, I would never vote for someone as reckless and irresponsible as myself. Moreover, I would never want to make decisions about your children’s futures or be responsible for a city’s infrastructure.
Holding elected officials to a higher moral standard than yourself – within reason – is perfectly normal. Let’s put that moral standard somewhere between Dobson’s standard and Molotov cocktails.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
