Strollerderby

Weathering A Storm of Scandal

Posted by Amy Kuras

….I'm sorry, what?

Were it not for my fellow Strollerderbians, I am not entirely sure I’d have any idea about anything else going on in the world other than the massive sex scandal that erupted here this week. The Detroit Free Press uncovered thousands of text messages between our mayor and one of his top aides that point to a sexual relationship. A sexual relationship, I should add, that the two denied under oath in a police whistle-blower lawsuit the city then settled to the tune of nine million taxpayer dollars. The suit potentially could have exposed the affair.

Furious though I am (did I mention NINE MILLION DOLLARS??), I can’t help but spare a thought for the mayor's wife and three sons. Those young boys in the photo are now 12 and 9 (the oldest two are twins). Twelve year-olds are not exactly noted for their kindness and restraint, and given that this the story has been all over the news for days, there's just no way they could not be hearing about it at school and everywhere else. Making it worse, this aide and her husband were longtime friends with the mayor's family – it likely wasn't just their trust in daddy that was betrayed. He's been, by all accounts, a devoted father even if his husbandly skills kind of stink.

I'm wondering how a family manages to come back from something this nasty and embarassing. The Clintons seemingly did well with Chelsea, since she appears close to both parents now. The mayor comes from a well-connected political family and I  am sure has advisers to help him deal with the fallout. I just hope the kids have someone in their lives that they can trust and talk to about this.

I couldn’t find much about how families weather scandal, but I did find this: a whole list of helpful ways to talk to your kids about what they see on the news. It goes through everything from natural disasters to divorce, and gives parents tools to respond to their kids' questions.

For me, it provides a nice break from thinking exactly how many laid-off police officers $9 million could get back on the streets.


+ DIGG + STUMBLE
Posted Jan 26 2008, 02:08 PM
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Comments

 

bookmama said:

The short answer is that families often don't survive that kind of scandal, and it's a long, sad process of rebuilding trust that sometimes never is restored. Think twice, people, before you betray your families.

January 26, 2008 2:25 PM
 

Cassie said:

So when do they go to jail for lying under oath?  Perjury is against the law.  I cannot see how a man is a good father if he is f-ing a friend of the family and betraying the childrens' mother.  A good father is faithful to the mother.  A good father also teaches their children by example that lying, breaking the law and adultery are wrong.  

January 26, 2008 7:43 PM
 

Abel D. said:

Children often wipe it away when the father cheats, but go into a funk if they discover that the mother was a person of affairs.  I think that's because if the mother remains faithful there's no question about their parentage, but if the mother is a wanderer, it presents a question about their true father.

January 27, 2008 3:57 AM
 

sarahsw said:

Thanks for the update from Motown.  Not a positive word about Kwame has made it beyond the city limits since he was first elected.  I can't say I am at all surprised given all of the other scandals he has brought to a city that did not need it.  In my lifetime, I hope to see a real leader in Detroit.

-Raised in Grosse Pointe, enjoying Philadelphia

January 27, 2008 11:58 PM
 

kay said:

the suits on those boys tell the entire story.

January 28, 2008 6:35 PM

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