The Impotence of Being Ernest

Political sex scandals are nothing new, but the frequency of accusations being made against politicians lately are making them seem quite banal.

The result has been that a good many people regard woman making these accusations as having axes to grind with the politician in question other than sex.

And then there is the financial settlement angle.

Most of the time it seems like she said, he said and the battle lines get drawn between loyal supporters of the politician in question and the radical, man-hating feminist wing of the women's movement backing the accusers and looking for blood.

Rochester has generally been spared political sex scandals, which suggests that our politicians, usually, are fairly discrete in their extra-marital activities and their playmates have not been willing to expose them or themselves to public scrutiny.

Unfortunately, that was not the case regarding Monroe County Legislator Ernest Flagler-Mitchell.

In the Fall of 2020, Ernest was accused of sending LaKaya Sinclair, then nineteen, a photo of a man's penis via his cell phone, along with some texts that stated he was in the shower.

He has a water-proof cell phone?

And why would his wife need to know that he was in the shower, anyway?

When Ms. Sinclair finally got around to complaining about it, Ernest promptly denied that he intentionally sent her anything, that the photo and the text was intended for his wife, that the photo was of another man's penis and that it was sent to Ms. Sinclair by accident.

Hmmm.

Whatever was Ernest doing with a photo of another man's penis on his cell phone?

And why would he intend it to be sent to his wife, by whom he's had numerous children?

It can't be that she doesn't know what one looks like and one presumes after all these years of marriage she would know the difference between his and some other man's.

So, in January, an independent investigator for the Monroe County Board of Ethics was sent to get to the bottom of the matter.

Today it was ruled that Ms. Sinclair's accusations were entirely credible and Ernest's explanation lacked credibility.

It went further to suggest that Ernest "sent the photos to secure unwarranted privileges," which was interpreted as "sexual favors."

The investigation also revealed that other women, unnamed,  "came forward" to make similar accusations against Ernest.

Just like other women crawling out of the woodwork when other politicians have been similarly accused when blood or money can be smelled.

One wonders how busy a little beaver Ernest has been and why, only now, are these accusations being made and coming to light.

At any rate, it really doesn't matter, since last month, the DA announced Ernest would face no criminal charges for the incident.

And Ernest is not really rich enough to make it worthwhile to sue for cash damages.

So he'll probably luck out again.

The most he will lose is his reputation, which among Team Gantt is no big deal.

And the fact that he could not spin himself out of this mess with his explanations suggests that he is not as influential as he might have thought.

And, back again to the photo of another man's penis that he wanted to send to his wife: Does it suggest the impotence of being Ernest?