Ego is likely one factor in Spitzer mess
Lee Benson
That seemed to be enough "formers" to qualify him as an expert witness.
The question: What is it that causes public figures to think they are bulletproof?
But he had no more clue than I did.
"I can't imagine why he (Spitzer) did it or how he thought he could get away with it. I'm as perplexed as anyone. He went totally haywire," said Wilson, who currently serves as executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, an organization dedicated to keeping Utah's rivers as clean and pristine as possible.
The actions of Spitzer, who carved a reputation as a no-nonsense prosecutor of crime when he was New York's attorney general, would be akin to Wilson buying stock in a dam-building company — and attempting to launder the purchase through transfers from his banking account.
Spitzer's very public profile only fuels the ex-mayor's incredulity.
"When you're in office you see the constraints of the law, not the permissiveness," he said. "You're always running into all kinds of reasons why you can't do things. It's not the other way around. It's like there are border collies chasing you around, keeping you in the pasture.
"I think it's unusual for someone in high office to lose sight of that."
Then again, said Wilson, "I've only been a mayor, and mayors don't have a lot of heady experience. Mayors fix potholes. I should imagine that it must be a pretty heady thing to be governor of New York.
"But all politics is ego," he continued, "and when you're in office you do get your ego fed a lot. You always have to remind yourself to step back and say, 'Is it really me or do they want something out of my office?' Generally it's they want something out of my office. But it (the attention) does create around you an insulating kind of feeling."
Because of our more moderate culture, Wilson thinks it's difficult for Utahns to relate to the kind of wealth and power that exists in New York.
"The money that's there, the upscale nature, I don't think we have any sense of that," he said. "We don't have a lot of hot tubs in this state. We don't have a lot of indulgent private establishments. Even our wealthy people are pretty constrained in the way they live. Even some of our governors don't live in the (governors) mansion all the time; they tend to sneak home when they can."
"Not that somebody won't go haywire here," he said. "But as to what happened on this one, I have no real thoughts except to be aghast at it."
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.
Recent comments
Hey anonymous.....you must be dealing with some issues to rip on…
Ed | March 14, 2008 at 2:11 p.m.
Nicely done, Lee. You are a master columnist.
jbeanster | March 14, 2008 at 1:09 p.m.
This column was written by someone that certainly knows about ego…
Anonymous | March 14, 2008 at 12:57 p.m.
