Character Revealed | Eastern North Carolina Now

   This article was written a few weeks ago anticipating the October supersizes. It was before the recent release of Donald's locker room banter on a bus eleven years ago or Hillary speech emails. I have made minor edits here but not changed the tenor or tone of the original article. Bobby Tony Oct 07, 2016


He is used in the generic sense

    There is that a saying a person's true character is revealed by what he does when no one is watching. That may be true but I have a slightly different viewpoint on the subject. I think a politicians character is revealed after they have left office and no longer up for election. There is a close parallel to character to see what a person does before they ran for office, but that can be deceiving as most non-career politicians have a few skeletons in their closet while a true politician will have a cleansed record of their past. Apparently that is not true in this election.

   It is of no use in determining whom to elect after they leave office. It is merely a check mark on you previous opinion of them.  It is my opinion that in national elections, the people normally make a better judgement than they do in local and state wide elections.  A normal person lives their life in a different manner than a politician. I have written on that before in A Calculated Life. But I think it is very revealing to watch a former politician after they are gone from the spotlight and see if they measure up to your assumptions of them. It is also revealing to see what is revealed after they leave office or perhaps just a peak under the covers while they were still running that would have been relevant to your decision at election time.  Below is a list of politicians that may serve as an example. You may do your own research and form opinions on the Presidents and Vice Presidents, but please note the last listing of politicians who have had trouble with the law.

Presidents:

• Harry S. Truman,
• Dwight David Eisenhower,
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
• Lyndon Baines Johnson,
• Richard Milhous Nixon,
• Gerald Rudolph Ford,
• James Earl Carter, Jr.,
• Ronald Wilson Reagan,
• George Herbert Walker Bush,
• William Jefferson Clinton,
• George Walker Bush,

Vice Presidents not included above

• Hubert H. Humphrey
• Spiro T. Agnew
• Nelson Rockefeller
• Walter F. Mondale
• Dan Quayle
• Albert Gore
• Richard Cheney

Other Politicians

• 
   Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland, Republican  -    Rowland resigned from office and later pleaded guilty to one-count of deprivation of honest services on December 23, 2004.  Rowland was allegedly using public funds to pay for vacations and other extravagances. He served 10 months in a federal prison.
  
  Rep. Frank Ballance, D-N.C.  -    The former congressman was sentenced to four years in prison on October 12, 2005 for conspiring to defraud taxpayers.
  
  Rep. Duke Cunningham, R-Calif. -     The congressman pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion on Nov. 28, 2005.
  
   Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, Democrat   -   Siegelman was found guilty of bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice on June 29, 2006. He was sentenced to 88 months in prison.
  
   Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan, Republican -     On Sept. 6, 2006 the former governor was sentenced to prison on fraud and racketeering charges.
  
  Lewis Libby Republican -   The Chief of Staff for Vice President Dick Cheney was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007. His sentence was later commuted by President George W. Bush.
  
  Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, Republican  -    The former senator was arrested on June 11, 2007 for "lewd conduct" in a public restroom.     The scandal eventually led to his retirement from the Senate, thus ending his career in politics.
  
  Bernard Kerik   -   The former New York City police Commisioner was indicted on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements on November 8, 2007.
  
   Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, Republican   -  The late senator was indicted on seven criminal charges of failing to report gifts on July 29, 2008.      In April 2009, however, Stevens' indictment was overturned, vacating his conviction. Federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan determined that information had been withheld that could have exonerated Stevens.
  
  Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.  -    The former congressman was convicted of 11 counts of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison on November 13, 2009. This was after the FBI seized $90,000 from Jefferson's home freezer.
  
   Birmingham Ala. Mayor Larry Langford, Democrat    -  The former mayor of Birmingham was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering, and filing false tax returns on March 5, 2010.
  
  Hartford, Conn. Mayor Eddie Perez, Democrat   -   The former mayor of Hartford, Conn. was sentenced to eight years in prison on five corruption charges on September 14, 2010.
  
  Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas   -   The former House Majority Leader was convicted on Nov. 24, 2010 of scheming to influence Texas state elections with corporate money. However, on Sept. 19, 2013 the verdict was overturned.
  
   North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Democrat   -   On June 3, 2011, the former presidential hopeful was indicted by a North Carolina grand jury on six felony charges, including four counts of collecting illegal campaign contributions, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements. He was later found not guilty and the Justice Department finally dropped all charges.      NOTE: The senator was arrested and indicted, but never convicted.
  
  Illinois Gov. Rob Blagojeich, Democrat   -   The former governor was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Dec. 7, 2011 on 18 corruption convictions, including trying to sell a senate seat that became vacant when the nation elected President Barack Obama.
  
   Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, Republican   -   The senator was arrested on Dec. 22, 2012 for drunk driving.      Crapo's arrest was particularly damaging to his political career because of his reputation as an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   "Crapo's real punishment ... is linked less to the severity of his transgression than the degree to which his crime clashed with the squeaky-clean image of Mormon politicians that Mitt Romney personified over the past year," The Washington Post wrote at the time of the incident.
  
  Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.     On June 12, 2013, Renzi was convicted on 17 of 32 counts in a corruption case, accusing him of using his office for personal financial gain.
  
  Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick  D-Mich  The former mayor of Detroit was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Oct. 10, 2013 for corruption.    According to a report by the Detroit Free Press, the investigation that ultimately took down Kilpatrick spanned a decade and "also has resulted in convictions against 33 other people."
  
  Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. -   The democrat congressman reported to prison on Oct. 29, 2013 after being convicted of illegally spending $750,000 in campaign money on personal items.
  
  Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla.  -  The congressman was convicted of misdemeanor possession of cocaine on November 19, 2013.   Radel's arrest seemed particularly ironic considering the congressman's support of mandated drug tests for welfare recipients.

   The above listing is not inclusive of all who got in trouble with the law.  It also does not cover those with personal issues like divorce, scandal or lapses in judgement. Should we hold our elected officials to a higher standard than we do the average person?  If the bar for elected office is so low that almost anyone can step over it, we probably deserve what we get from our leaders, so please hold off on the JUDGE NOT, LEST YE BE JUDGED soliloquy.   Voting is a judgement call on a person's character and competence. We are expected to JUDGE those we elect because we bequeath to them the power to make law and a certain amount of control over our lives.

Source for above Notable politicians convicted of crimes since 2000

IF YOU ARE BUSY COUNTING THE NUMBER OF "D's" AND "R's" ABOVE YOU ARE MISSING MY POINT. CHARACTER IS NOT A LEFT OR RIGHT THING, IT IS A NORTH OR SOUTH.

    For most of my voting life, the first two criteria that I have used to determine my choice has been character and transparency. Character is an important trait choosing a President. This elections has caused me to almost completely abandon that criteria in my decision making process. Both candidates have shown a complete lack of the "C" word in both public and private.

   The election is now in the phase where the "October Surprise" has overtaken any discussion of issues and deteriorated into a mud slinging contest between two flawed and corrupted candidates. I expected most of this has long been in the hopper along with more on both sides of the political aisle.

    My concern about Donald is that he has displayed a lack of character multiple times in his life. I of course, am only aware of the public lapses of character. I do not any inside knowledge or innuendo.

    Hillary on the other hand has displayed a complete lack of character in almost ever faucet of her public and private life. She has displayed a total lack of concern for laws and privacy protocol in her office as a public servant.

    Both have shown a tarnished and debauched attitude toward women in both public and private actions. They both operate on the principal that the end justifies the means and have done whatever is necessary to eliminate or eradicate someone who stands in their way.

    "Boy, Bobby Tony you sure do sound like a prude, I guess you have never had a lapse of character". Yes I have but I am not running for President of the United States. My criteria for a President is much higher hurdle than it is for a friend, acquaintance or bar stool buddy. It is right up there next to my choice for a wife and vice versa. It is character, honesty and loyalty and the ability to tell you when you are wrong when everyone but you know it is true.

    The stakes are so high in this election and the choices so limited that a negative vote is most likely my only option. I do not like either of the front-runners and the pragmatic hard-nosed side of me keeps me from voting for either of the third party candidates.

   The one thing I fear most is that this election has revealed the underside of our American character in that most people, like me, were prepared to overlook "CHARACTER" as a one of the top priorities in choosing a President Of the United States during the primaries, when we had numerous opportunities to reject the last two standing trailblazers in our rush to the gutter.

    If this were not so important, I would be amused as the pundits continue to try remove the stink from this election. So now the entertainment is left to the clean up crew in the circus. Those are the ones who come after he Elephant parade and try to clean up the mess. It is not entertaining but is must be done. While the are cleaning up the arena, the real show goes on in center ring.

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