Opinion | The Perfect Recipe for Scandal: Sex, Money, and Hypocrisy

to conspiracy and tax evasion and resigned from office in 2019. And, I mean, it captured something about the kind of transactional nature of city politics and the way in which, somehow, these leaders believe that they are going to get away with these kinds of things. And I just loved the fact that it was children’s books. Children’s books. Anyway, what’s the takeaway here? Is it the behavior of politicians that’s changing, or is it our expectations about acceptable behavior that are changing?michelle cottleI think it’s maybe both. When we talk about the Santos situation, you know, he claims these business deals and whatnot predate his political career— I believe the one indictment went all the way back to 2015. And then the idea that we are now that representatives of the highest standards, or certain party representatives — that’s the excessive outrage, you know?carlos lozadaIt feels like it’s now impossible — not impossible, but it’s much more difficult to come up with a universal standard that everyone’s going to agree on, right?ross douthatYeah.carlos lozadaWhat I would suggest as a caper would be, instead of going to Washington, maybe we go to Albany. We find some of these children’s books and do a reading.lydia polgreenYes.ross douthatLike in a children’s hospital. That would be a field reading. It would be — yeah. So every week, we’d be on site, reading a different excerpt —lydia polgreenCheck out our podcast.carlos lozadaOur first call is of course to the mayor of Baltimore, right? All right. Well, that’s our show for this week. “The Matter of Opinion” is produced by Shop Talk—lydia polgreenThe Matter of Opinion!carlos lozadaOoh, that’s what I should have gone with, actually. But it’s produced by Shop Talk, part of The New York Times Opinion. Our team includes Brian Gutierrez, Phoebe Lett, Vishakha Darbha, and Paula Coddington. If you had any reactions to today’s conversation, or just thoughts about what we should talk about on future episodes, you can leave us a voicemail at 347-915-4334. We’d love to hear from you. For that matter, we’d love to go to a rage room.FETCHELYDIAHey Carlos.[BELL SOUNDS]carlos lozadaLydia. Bring us home.lydia polgreenUntil next time, and may we all enjoy as scandal-free a week as possible. And thank you for not hitting anyone with a desk chair today.michelle cottleREPORTED LINKS: “House Expels N.Y. Rep., Citing a ‘Pattern’ of Financial Misdeeds”, written by Luke Broadwater and Katie Benner with reporting from Alan Feuer on October 1, 2022.

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