Public officials and sex. They seem to go hand in hand. It’s probably because absolute power not only corrupts absolutely, it perverts absolutely, too. Throughout history those in power have been have abused it to satisfy their most carnal urges, either gaining praise for their actions (JFK and Marilyn) or having their reigns rocked by controversy (Bill Clinton and Monica).

Such impropriety can be seen at all levels of government. I don’t know if it’s a sign of the times, but it seems to be getting worse; just look at how many sex scandals have reared their ugly heads in the past half dozen months: Politically-connected "massage" parlors that used Asian slaves were busted in Niagara County, the clientele of which included many public servants. A former Lockport police chief and a retired state Supreme Court judge were busted for taking a young woman across state borders to provide her body to conventioneers. A handful of local teachers have been in the courts for dabbling in sexual behavior with their underage students. Our governor resigned because of his tryst with a prostitute and was he replaced by someone who admitted to cheating on his wife on numerous occasions.

Those individuals in question are only those who’ve been in the news lately. Many more morally-corrupt people are employed as their peers, controlling how we live while they participate in some of the darkest behaviors imaginable.

Such offensive indiscretions have become so commonplace that people are becoming numb to them, so much so that a recurring philosophical question of late has been: "do the personal values of public servants really matter?"

Unfortunately – maybe yet another sign of the times – many folks have answered a resounding "no" to that question. They seem content in someone, anyone, being in power, regardless of that person’s moral fiber.

Those apologists are ignorant to the management of good government, failing to understand that honest-to-goodness family values and high morality will always have an important role in government service. When we the people entrust and pay others to oversee all facets of our society and economy, we would hope that they approach their job with the utmost attention to detail while fully comprehending the rights, wrongs, and consequences of the decisions. The impact of these decisions is inescapable: they provide our protection, they offer health and family services, they educate the masses, they regulate the businesses that employ us, and they tax our hard-earned incomes.

The chances are very good that if the officials can’t keep their personal lives in order their professional lives will be in disorder as well. The inability to distinguish between good and bad is not a fleeting thing, it is a way of being that permeates every decision an individual makes throughout his life. All of your actions - whether at home or work- are a result of who you are inside.

I expect that my public servants should live their lives with character, because that character will make itself know in how they serve the people, and how legitimate that service may be. The scandalous creeps cannot serve us well. Do you really want the police officer clientele of those massage parlors looking out for your well being when they couldn’t even protect the young slave girls whose bodies and minds they violated? Do you want judges determining your guilt or innocence when they cannot comprehend what is legally or philosophically appropriate? Do you want to entrust your child to a teacher who looks at her like a piece of meat? Do you want a governor managing a $124 billion budget made up of your money when he can’t even manage his own personal life in good taste?

Some would say we can’t regulate or demand morality. But, we can and we do. The armed forces of the United States – by far our most important and valuable public servants – demand that all soldiers follow a strict code of conduct, one based in well-founded personal convictions. The Army alone has a set of seven values for our men and women in uniform: loyalty, duty, respect, service, honor, integrity and courage. These are timeless values that all public servants (and a matter of fact, ALL Americans) should follow, realizing that our military succeeds where all others fail because of this simple yet powerful set of rules to live by. Values really do matter.