Bill Paxon, a victim any way you look at it.
CAN DEMOCRATS BE SINKING TO NEW LOWS TOO?
Bill Paxon, a victim any way you look at it.
FRIDAY MARCH 6th 1998: The plot thickens in the "PaulaMonicagate" arena, but a following article caught our instant attention.
It was published yesterday by the Jerusalem Post in Israel. The writer, Avi Bar-Yosef could not be reached for comment. Brit Hume, the father of Sandy Hume, who died by his own hand this past week has also not returned calls as of this writing.
Yosef alleges that a story rages that Sandy Hume, one of the best Washington journalists to come along in a decade shot himself over a scandal about to be revealed in which the scenario goes thus: Sandy Hume had an affair with Bill Paxon, GOP leader from Staten Island, who for some mysterious reason has announced he will not run for Congress in November. Paxon, a leader in the Oust-Gingrich movement was, in our estimation, a shoo-in for Speaker himself and just a step away from being a serious contender for the Republican nomination for president in 2000.
His announcement that he would retire at the zenith of his career was treated by the mainstream media as normal course, and the story was dropped within 48 hours. Now, if the Jerusalem Post rumors can be confirmed, a horrible witches brew presents itself to Democrats.
We at American Politics Journal debated heavily whether to run the rumor. For one thing, we have been very tough on Brit Hume for his poor performance on Fox News Sunday. For another, we think the private sex lives and sexual preferences of ANYONE is their own business - not ours.
We decided to print this story, however, for other reasons. If true, or even if not, others will make great hoopla over the tawdry story of a homosexual suicide involving one of the most powerful members of Congress.
We don't even know whether Sandy Hume was gay. And we don't care. As we wrote when reporting his untimely death - he was one of the best, in every way.
What we do want to say, is that any Democrat who makes even a tiny stab at capitalizing on this story will get the same treatment we give those Republicans who seek to develop political power at the cost of personal misery for others.
We feel held to an even higher standard here.
And we'll keep it.
Here's the salient portion of the Jerusalem Post piece:
FROM THE JERUSALEM POST -
By AVINOAM BAR-YOSEF
(March 5) - Now that we have our own president, we can turn our attention to the really important elections - for the president of the US.
Even if the Lewinsky affair sinks to the bottom of the pile of inexhaustible intrigue in the American capital, Bill Clinton's debatable reputation will have sullied Al Gore's election campaign. Perhaps this is what lies behind the next scandal threatening to explode on Capitol Hill, a scandal which may actually tarnish the opposition Republican Party in its attempts to find a candidate who has a chance of beating the Democratic vice president and restoring its supremacy in the White House, following George Bush's defeat.
And this is the story. Two weeks ago, a brilliant, 28-year old journalist committed suicide in Washington after having exposed a plot against House Speaker Newt Gingrich in his own party.
The story goes that the reason for the suicide was an affair the journalist had with none other than the leader of the plot, a senior Republican, confirmed supporter of Israel, who championed family values in true Republican style.
It is possible that the discovery, which has not yet hit the headlines, is the result of a democratic investigation aimed at overshadowing "Monicagate." It is also possible that the story is actually being spread by opponents of the senior politician from within his own party. In any event, the man has announced his decision to withdraw from the race for the presidency and retire from political life....
If Bill Paxon resigned because he was sure this story would break, and it is true, then someone had to have threatened him with it.
Either way it stinks.
Whoever is responsible, should seek counsel from a minister, rabbi or priest, and should resign from whatever he or she is doing poste haste and forget about heaven.
- The Editors.
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"JK, a client, a friend, and one of the keenest minds in American politics, told me one afternoon: 'A good place to begin thinking critically about American and Western European democracies to ask yourself: What kind of man or woman would choose to run for public office? Think about that.' - I did."
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