Sleazeball Domenici

Should have known all the time, the fellow was a Class-A jerk:

From Daily Kos:

Former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici told the Journal on Tuesday he fathered a son outside of his marriage over 30 years ago, revealing a secret kept for decades.

Statements given to the Journal by Domenici and the son’s mother, Michelle Laxalt of Alexandria, Va., identified the son as Adam Paul Laxalt, a Nevada lawyer. Michelle Laxalt formerly was a prominent government relations consultant and television political commentator in Washington, D.C. She is a daughter of former U.S. senator and Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt. [...]

Michelle Laxalt said “one night’s mistake led to pregnancy” and she chose to raise the son as a single parent.

Now, far be it from us to judge what happens behind closed doors between consenting adults. After all, it's really no one's business if the former senator of New Mexico was diddling a colleague's daughter behind his wife's back. Clearly, such a private matter is nobody's business, and we should all stay out of it.

Oh, unless that senator happens to believe that the government has a vested interest in what happens behind closed doors between consenting adults, women have no right to privacy at all, and adultery "rise[s] to the level of impeachable offenses that the Founding Fathers envisioned."

Like Sen. Pete Domenici did when he was wandering the halls of the Senate in his pajamas. In which case, all bets are off.

See, while Domenici was keeping his dirty little secret out of respect for his baby mama and his out-of-wedlock offspring, he was whistling a slightly different tune in public. Like when he voted to convict President Bill Clinton in the Senate impeachment trial because, among other things, "[t]ruthfulness is the first pillar of good character in the Character Counts program of which I have been part of establishing in New Mexico." Also, something about the president's "tawdry" sex acts, although it totally wasn't about that at all.

In fact, when he was a senator, Domenici was perfectly happy to invade the privacy of others and legislate what happens between consenting adults. Like all his votes to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Like all his votes to regulate vaginas—because while he believed that the woman he impregnated had a right to privacy, that right does not extend to women he didn't impregnate.

But at least, classy guy that he is, Domenici has finally come clean—decades later—to his family, and he's very sorry:

I deeply regret this and am very sorry for my behavior. I hope New Mexicans will view that my accomplishments for my beloved state outweigh my personal transgression. I only ask that everyone respect the privacy of my family and the son’s mother. None of them wanted this publicity, none of them deserve the hurt of this revelation, and only I should bear the brunt of this matter.

Yeah. Sure is awful when people think what happens in your private life is somehow their business, isn't it?