John Lacey Gets Personal

It is not common for political scandals to happen on my own doorstep, so I was amazed to discover this morning that Member for Kiama, Matt Brown, had resigned after it was revealed that he stripped down to his underwear during a party at his parliamentary office.

Or as The Age put it:

The Australian newspaper, quoting a witness, reported Mr Brown stripped down to his “very brief” underpants and danced on a green leather couch in his office.

You might be interested to know that I actually form a part of Mr. Brown’s former electorate. I couldn’t tell you if I voted for him, I don’t actually remember. What I do remember, however, was receiving a delightful reusable bag featuring a caricature of the man himself on it. Clearly even in less inebriated moments this was a man who didn’t take himself too seriously.

Community reaction seemed mixed. I overheard a woman in a local cafe remark that at first she was shocked but later thought, “Good on him! He seems like a normal person.”

At this point I feel compelled to ask the question: What bearing should an individual’s personal life have on their professional life?

Now you might argue that this was a work-related function, and it was – so perhaps we should take Matt Brown out of this discussion and speak more generally. Or, perhaps we should just use other examples.

What – if anything – does Sarah Palin’s daughter being pregnant mean to her ability to function as Vice President?

I liked the conclusion that Phil Davis drew:

Taking care of her children while running for office is her problem, not mine or yours.

Alister Cameron asked on his blog: Will we learn from Pastor Michael Guglielmucci’s fall? For the benefit of the unaware, Michael Guglielmucci lied about having a serious illness and subsequently wrote and performed a song about his miraculous healing. Apparently, we are told, this was to cover up the shame of an addiction to images of an ‘adult’ nature.

I look at Cameron’s question and wonder much the same thing, but for different reasons.

Cameron writes:

So why don’t we learn from the massive damage of past leadership failures, and expect (and demand) a level of accountability and transparency from our leaders?

But here’s the thing. There was nothing illegal about what Pastor Michael Guglielmucci was doing. (Okay I’m making some assumptions about the material he was accessing, but I believe this is a fair thing to do in the absense of information to the contrary.) The problem came when he felt the need to misrepresent himself and his health (and when the Church profited from this misrepresentation).

Surely the lesson to be learnt here is that if you shame people enough, they do crazy things! The stigma the church attaches to sexuality is incredible! They put it in the corner. Its over there. Its not something they ‘do’ or ‘believe in.’

Now I’m not a religious man, I’m not even a particularly philosophical person, but I doubt any divine being would give you sexual organs, hormones and feelings just so your local church can make you feel bad for having them!

My point is this; it is wonderful to expect good things of our leaders. However if perfection is a prerequisite for a position, not a single position shall be filled. Ever.

Categories: Personal Universe
Tags: Matt Brown, Michael Guglielmucci, Sarah Palin