Sex, Laws and Politicians

Many political figures have broken the same sex laws they've advocated for.

ByABC News
March 14, 2008, 10:04 AM

March 14, 2008 — -- This week, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned from office after the release of federal court documents that indicate he was a client at a high-priced escort service. He called the reasons for his resignation "a private matter."

I agree that an adult paying for sex should be considered a private matter, but Spitzer didn't consider it private when other people did it.

As the state's attorney general he spearheaded high-profile investigations into prostitution rings, getting people arrested for operating escort services like the one he allegedly used.

As Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "Beware of those in whom the will to punish is strong."

Take, for example, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. He has a long history of supporting tough sex crime legislation and fought against gay marriage, but Minneapolis police say he solicited a sex act from an undercover officer in an airport bathroom last year, which he denied.

And then there's former Florida Rep. Mark Foley. He, too, was one of the strongest advocates of punishing adults who have sex with minors. He was a champion of the Adam Walsh Act, which requires states to adopt tougher laws targeting sex offenders. Of course, ABC News then caught Foley sending sexually explicit instant messages to minors.

It's understandable why politicians are so eager to push sweeping new laws against sex crimes. It gets them more time on TV and a chance to impress voters. But these politicians should cut back on their grandstanding, because even those who aren't hypocrites are still making potential criminals out of young teens.

Public defender Chris Phillis knows all about this. She defends kids accused of crimes that most people wouldn't consider worthy of jail time.

In her home state of Arizona, for example, "if a 15-year-old touches a 13-year-old's breasts, they are now guilty of a felony crime," according to Phillis. Often these teens are then put on the sex offender registry, lumped in the same category as hardened sex offenders who rape young children.