When Loyalty Becomes a Liability

by: Thurman Hart

Thu May 22, 2008 at 02:12:09 AM EDT

Whichever way you want to look at him, the 2006 campaign for the Senate laid bare a lot of sordid details.  One of those details was that his long-time friend, Donald Scarinci, was still working for Menendez.  This, despite the fact that Scarinci was recorded trying to arrange favors in Menendez' name.  Whether or not it was with Menendez' blessing - well, only Scarinci and Menendez know for sure.  Politically, though, Menendez waited far too long to cut ties with his old buddy.  

Jon Corzine generally has a reputation as being above being bought.  But he can be hoodwinked. And he's a little naive at times.  And he can also be loyal to the wrong people.  How can the sitting Governor applaud his Deputy Chief of Staff for admitting in open court that he had no problem helping people take bribes?  It borders on insanity - this need to stand by every single person regardless of the facts.  I'm not advocating selling out your friends at the first sign of problems - but when your friends have committed illegal acts...Come on!

So now, Frank Lautenberg looks to be facing his own moment of omerta.  Does he stand by Vincent Rigolosi or does he cut him loose?

When a Jersey Shore businessman wanted to bribe police and fix criminal charges to help out a mobster buddy, he sought advice from Vincent P. Rigolosi, a prominent lawyer who chaired the Bergen County Democratic Party.

But the scheme leaked out and Rigolosi ended up being disbarred for life.

"[Rigolosi's] conduct reveals a flaw running so deep that he can never again be permitted to practice law,'' the New Jersey Supreme Court wrote in a scathing 1987 opinion that detailed Rigolosi's "dishonesty, fraud and deceit.''

It's the next sentence that holds a world of hurt for Senator Frank Lautenberg - and one that should make his most fervent supporters stop and consider why it has to be written:

A generation later, Rigolosi has re-emerged at the helm of a key fundraising committee controlled by Democrat Frank R. Lautenberg, the 84-year-old Cliffside Park multi-millionaire who is now seeking his fifth term in the U.S. Senate.

Oy.  My aching head.  

Personal note: My best friend in the whole world is a guy in Texas that ended up spending about six years in the penitentiary because he stole some guns and a car and was dumb enough to cross a state line.  He was twenty and scared and he pulled one of the guns on the cops that tried to arrest him.  Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.  But he paid his debt to society and has lived for almost two decades without breaking so much as a traffic law.  I'd trust this guy if I found him at a hotel with my wife and he said they were planning a surprise family picnic.

But I'd never - ever - hire him to work on a campaign.

There are some things in life in which the participants must strive to be above reproach.  That means that they must sometimes tell the person on the phone that, no, you won't pay their bail for stalking the State Committee Chair (uh, Mr. Corzine?).  It means you won't hand out ungodly wads of cash to friends who just happen to have powerful political connections.  It means you won't let the dignity of your office get tied to some kind of common and cheap crap that may not be illegal, but will make everyone stop and say, "WTF?"

I value loyalty, and I think that I'm a pretty loyal guy myself (sometimes even a bit too willing to swat at someone I think is taking a cheap shot at my friends).  I understand the concept.  But our political leaders have to understand something - they aren't typical Joe Sixpack guys anymore.  When you have "Governor" or "Senator" (as well as other titles) tacked onto the front of your name, you are expected to have the values and judgment to say, "I love you.  You're a great guy.  But you can't work for me.  I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.  God bless and good luck."

They have to put the good of your office before their ego, their ambition, and even their loyalty to their friends.  It's a LOT to ask of a person, but that has to be a minimum standard of the job.  It's time our leaders started living up to that standard before a story runs in the newspaper.