Salon | Swamp Fever

S W A M P   F E V E R   |   B Y   J A M E S   C A R V I L L E

Stop the toe-sucking frenzy!

It's time for the press to stop
prying into political consultants' private lives.

this is not going to be my typical column. I want to say up front here that I don't have answers to the questions I will pose. You see, today I want to open a dialogue. I'm not going to tell you how it is. Instead, I want to try to better understand a subject which hits really close to home for me. I'm talking about the growing trend in the press of reporting on political consultants' private lives.
Unless you've spent the last year or so under a rock, you've probably noticed the proliferation of scandals swirling around the personal lives of political consultants.
First it was Dick Morris. I'm sure y'all remember that humdinger last summer. The initial disclosure of Mr. Morris' affair with a prostitute while he was married and the subsequent lurid details sold plenty of tabloids. The timing of the story couldn't have been worse -- coming the same day the president delivered his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention. It cost Mr. Morris his job. (Some might argue that Morris has received greater financial benefits from his infamy, but that's beside the point.) The press justified its feeding frenzy because Mr. Morris was credited with crafting the president's values message at the same time he was engaging in these indiscretions.
Arthur Finkelstein, a lesser known but very effective Republican consultant, was also the target of unwanted attention. Last year, Boston magazine outed him as a gay man and justified its prying based on the fact that Mr. Finkelstein had worked for some of the most anti-gay-rights politicians in the country. In the media's eyes this made for. Finkelstein's private life fair game.
Most recently, you may have heard the allegations leveled against Republican media consultant Don Sipple. I tell you one thing, Mr. Sipple's campaign winning percentage is a hell of lot better than my own. But the left-leaning investigative magazine Mother Jones reported allegations that Mr. Sipple had abused two of his ex-wives while they were married. Mr. Sipple denies the charges and has even threatened to sue the magazine. The magazine claims its interest in the story stems from Mr. Sipple's ability to help his clients overcome the gender gap faced by most GOP candidates with ads that feed on women's fear of violence.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. My profession has definitely been taking it on the chin. And while I am troubled by these allegations, I am also troubled by the increased scrutiny of consultants' private lives. Trust me, I was no angel in my private life. But does that say anything about the candidates who hired me?
Remember, consultants are private citizens, they are not elected officials. And Washington is no different than anywhere else. People cheat on their spouses in Boise, Idaho. People everywhere do things that they would rather not read about on page one.
It all boils down to this: When is someone's private life the public's business? And what aspects of their private life ought to be publicly exposed? The press has already established that we have a right to know everything about the president and other public officials. Now they're starting to say the same rules apply to consultants and campaign workers. Isn't there a danger here that we might be going too far?
Who will be next? Are news anchors going to have to withstand the same scrutiny? After all, they command public trust and can sway public opinion. What about an investor's right to know about the background (let's say a history of drug use) of the CEO of the company in which he or she is investing? General Ralston's private relationship prevented him from being named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Does that mean I have a right to know the divorce record of my neurosurgeon? What about lawyers, HMO managers or hospital directors? Should we be able to delve into their personal affairs?
My sense is that the public has gotten sick of all this dirty laundry. The problem is, no one seems to know how to stop it. Having been through the whole Gennifer Flowers mess, believe me, I know how tough it is stop this train once it gets rolling. And the growing tabloidization of news is no help.
Again, I know you think I'm copping out here, but I truly don't have an answer. And based on conversations I've had on the subject no one in Washington seems to have an answer either. But we do need to define who and what are in play for media scrutiny and who and what deserve to be left alone. When is enough, enough?
Sept. 8, 1997
Do you think the personal lives of political consultants and campaign workers are fair game for the media? Discuss it in Table Talk.