Rep. Katie Hill Did the Right Thing

[MineralMan]

after she did the wrong thing. Having a sexual relationship with an employee or someone you supervise is always a bad idea. In most workplaces, it's prohibited and is often a firing offense. There are excellent reasons for that prohibition. Undue influence, hidden coercion and many other things can be involved.

So, someone who is elected as a House representative should know better than to get sexually involved with a staff member. It's a really simple rule, and everyone understands it.

So, Katie Hill has resigned. Since she's a Democrat, she did the honorable thing. It's too bad that the situation arose, but once it became public knowledge, she really had no other ethical way to handle it, frankly. Republicans might attempt to hang onto their job as an elected official, but Hill did what she knew she had to do.

Was the relationship consensual? Probably, but that doesn't matter. You just can't have sexual relationships in situations like that. It looks horrible, even when there is no coercion or undue influence.

It's too bad, but I don't see how a resignation wouldn't be the best option. And so, it is done.

[cbdo2007]

1. Agree...Some things just show terrible judgement

Do people need to be perfect? No. People who are elected officials do need to show that they have good judgement though and that they are operating in the best interests of their constituents.

There are plenty of things I could list that are perfectly legal and consensual and even somewhat normal in some groups, that I wouldn't label as being "good judgement" and that people should be mature enough not to participate in as public officials. This seems to be one of those things.

Best wishes to Katie and it sounds like she has a lot of personal issues to work through and then maybe take another shot at it in the future.

[MineralMan]

4. Well, I think holding an elected office comes with some responsibility

for staying within ethical boundaries, frankly. Getting elected makes you a public figure instantly. If you aren't ready to follow well-established rules of conduct, it's probably best not to run for office, I think.

It's not unheard of for people who work together to get together romantically. However, if that happens and you're someone's boss, the ethical thing to do is not to start a sexual relationship while that person works for you. End the working relationship and you're fine to form a personal relationship with that person. But, you can't have it both ways and not have people see it as a conflict of interest.

I want the people I elect to office to set an example of proper behavior and responsibility. When they do not, I am disappointed, at the very least.

[cwydro]

8. This.

Well said.

[MineralMan]

9. Thanks!

[Wounded Bear]

2. Well, Dems generally follow the rules and suffer the consequences whereas Repubs don't seem to.

so, you're right.

Some times it seems to suck to be the good guys.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes. Doing the right thing is best. Owning up to it when you don't

is almost as good, even if you have to pay a price.

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. That's the real problem,

Democrats follow the rules and face up to the consequences, republicons laugh at rules and flip the bird to any consequences.

[Hoyt]

5. Hate that she had to resign. She seemed a fine Democratic Representative. But, agree. n/t

[MineralMan]

6. Yes. I hate to see Democratic elected officials have to resign over

personal issues. But, you can't have things both ways. The proper thing to have done would have been for that staffer to quit as soon as a relationship developed. If that had occurred, there would have been nothing wrong with the relationship going on.

It's an ethical thing, really. I don't care who people who get elected fool around with. But, they can't do it with their own staffers. That just looks terrible. It also sets up the possibility of workplace ethical issues.

When I was in my 20s, I worked for a natural gas utility company in a clerical position. A young woman in the same office and I got romantically involved. Not an uncommon thing to happen, but it was prohibited at that company. So, we told the HR department that we were beginning a relationship. I got transferred to a different division of the company and worked in a different building.

We ended up getting married, but since we didn't work for the same part of the company, there was no ethical conflict. Then, we ended up splitting up, which is another story, but it did not affect either of our jobs, because we didn't try to hide the relationship.

Following the rules is a Democratic value.

[MineralMan]

10. By the way, in case someone wants to relate this to Al Franken,

there isn't any connection. Franken was accused of sexual harassment of people who didn't work for him at all. He resigned before an investigation into the matter happened. I thought he should not have done so until the accusations were proven. However, he did resign, because he didn't want the issue to cloud his ability to do his job.

It's not the same thing at all.

[Beringia]

11. In my mind Ellen Degeneres laughing with Bush2 was way worse

than Katie Hill having an affair with a junior member, but that is me.

[MineralMan]

12. Well, I totally disagree with that.

Ellen Degeneres has no ethical conflict from doing that at all. She is neither an elected official nor a political figure.

Who she knows and relates to is irrelevant to anything at all. She is an entertainer. Nothing she does has anything to do with public policy, laws, or anything else of any real importance. You might disapprove of what she did, but it affected nothing and nobody.

[Beringia]

13. Well I don't want to argue about semantics

But Ellen Degeneres does affect public policy by being a leader in social awareness and social acceptance of homosexuality and other things, I think she runs a wildlife charity. She uses her celebrity to influence people, so that can be a double-edged sword.

How does having an affair affect public policy or laws. It is a moral rule of our society not to have affairs with underlings. I suppose the man she had an affair with could have been coerced in some negative way by Ms Rep Hill, but it is mainly societies tongue wagging about affairs that set this policy. I am sure there are many long term romances and marriages between bosses and their staff.

[MineralMan]

14. None of those attributes you attach to her has anything to do

with anything official. Good for her for being a public leader in those areas. Her laughing with Bush has nothing to do with any of that. I can't see how any of those things are affected by sitting in the same box with GWB and laughing.

She is not subject to ethical rules in her work the way legislators are. So, there is no parallel.

[StarfishSaver]

16. +1

[StarfishSaver]

15. Thank you for the sanity

This situation is really an unfortunate one, some of it out of Rep. Hill's control, but some of it she brought on herself.

I believe if this were just an instance of her husband's reprehensible behavior, the public humiliation of the photos could have been dealt with and ridden out. If this were simply a case of having an inappropriate relationship with one or more staffers, she might have been able to withstand an ethics investigation, taken some kind of a punishment or reprimand and moved on.

But the two things worked in combination to do her in. Unfortunately, her own behavior, while not a deal breaker on its own, exacerbated something that was out of her control, turning the situation into something from which she couldn't recover politically.

[MineralMan]

18. Thanks.

It's all very unfortunate. I hate to see stories like that one.

[NewJeffCT]

17. I agree, however

I also think Duncan Hunter should have resigned months ago for his similar issues, which are also worse because he used taxpayer dollars to travel with at least one of his mistresses.

and, Hill's husband is a lowlife who should be subjected to any penalties available for "revenge porn" - does California have laws against this?

[MineralMan]

19. Duncan Hunter is a right-wing Republican.

I do not expect anything ethical to come from him.

As for the revenge porn issue, I do not know California laws about that. It's reprehensible, though. I'm sure of that. If there is video involved, or photos, it will become public and would interfere with any public official's situation. I hope that doesn't happen in this case. Perhaps her resignation will prevent public spreading of any videos or photos.

ETA: A quick search turned up the revenge porn images, hosted on right-wing sites. They're not explicit, but would have been a serious distraction for Rep. Hill, no doubt. Now that she has resigned, there is no benefit to anyone from making them public. If she had not, you'd be seeing them everywhere.