# What's the worst thing you'd let a politician get away with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 7, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841 "2010-07-07T12:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/41 "2010-07-09T22:37:19Z")
Fireflies are off limits. ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/42 "2010-07-10T21:06:31Z")
Well the newspaper probably figured they couldn’t milk it any longer and released it: He had sex with a 26 year old prostitute four years ago. I’m kind of conflicted on whether this should be an automatic “resign-and-hide”. Yeah it is illegal but not a serious crime in the circumstances this happened (no violence, she’s of legal age, no connection to criminal networks etc). It happened **before** he became minister and as far as we know it is a one-time thing. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/43 "2010-07-10T22:27:14Z")
A British Minister recently set an unwanted record for the shortest-ever tenure of a Cabinet post when he was forced to resign after a newspaper revealed a long-term gay relationship. The problem wasn’t the relationship as such, but that he’d been claiming rent on his expenses while living with his lover. I wonder how many people outside the UK would put “padded his expenses” on the crash-and-burn list? ---
**Author:** ![Stoneburg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Stoneburg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoneburg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/44 "2010-07-10T23:03:28Z")
One of our prime minister candidates 15 years ago was forced out because she had unpaid parking tickets and used the “official” credit card for buying private stuff (which she refunded). One minister was forced out 4 years ago for not paying her TV-license, another for using off-the-books housekeeping so… ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/45 "2010-07-11T02:06:57Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Every President gets three secret murders, but if he doesn’t use them by the end of the term, _pffft!_, they’re gone. Are these rollover murders? If you get re-elected, can you still keep your unused ones? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/46 "2010-07-11T04:30:20Z")
> [@Stoneburg](#): > > Well the newspaper probably figured they couldn’t milk it any longer and released it: He had sex with a 26 year old prostitute four years ago. I wonder what the evidence on computer is. And having sex with a (not underage) prostitute is definitely something I would have no problem forgiving in a politician. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841/47 "2010-07-11T05:00:16Z")
When cable came into Michigan a few years ago, they left a trail of city mayors in jail for accepting bribes. Our mayor, the city next to ours and others around the state took bribes and some did jail time. The Detroit mayor got rich and was re-elected. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-thing-youd-let-a-politician-get-away-with/545841.md?page=2)