I'm late to the party, as usual – sorry. (Big thanks to Keith for reminding me what day it is.)
This is a brief post to say thanks to all the politicians out there for making our job as writers so damn easy. In my next book I have a passing reference to a lieutenant governor who borrows funds from the state treasury to pay for underage prostitutes, a highly illicit activity for an elected official but nothing compared to what's happening in the real world. Just this past week we had a governor of New York snared in a prostitution ring, a former governor of New Jersey who had already resigned over one sex scandal confessing to having threesomes with his wife (before he decided he was gay), and the newly appointed Governor of New York raising his hand to confess to multiple affairs before the press could dig them up.
What a great country to be a writer.
Sure, the sex-obsessed press in our Puritanical society sometimes overlooks real corruption involving bogus campaign financing, influence peddling and gerrymandering, but those require more elaborate plotting from a writer's standpoint. For a quick cheap thrill, look no further than city hall and your local newspaper for your ideas.
3 comments:
The things I write about that happened in real life in my books are exactly the parts readers find least believable. What you gonna do?
What seems saddest (and most surprising) to me about these scandals are the wives who get trotted out to the podium as the guy issues an apology. I assume they have to be heavily sedated first. They always look like they are.
Dude! I'm from the Detroit area! We've currently got the Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. A couple years ago there was a trial because some cops blew the whistle on hizzoner that they got fired for complaining about being used as security for a big party complete w/strippers, etc., at the mayor's mansion. At the trial, Kilpatrick and his female chief of staff, under oath, said that they did not have an affair with each other.
Recently The Detroit Free Press got ahold of 14,000 text messages betwen Kwame and Beatty and it was clear they WERE having an affair. Hence, perjury. Hence, millions of dollars spent defending the mayor.
Now it keeps spinning out of control, because--and yes, this sounds like a crime novel, and a good one--one of the "exotic dancers" at the party apparently had a physical altercation with the mayor's wife. Then, later, the exotic dancer was murdered in a drive-by shooting. At least one cop is claiming there's a direct connection, although the Detroit Police Chief denies there's any connection at all.
It'd make a hell of a novel.
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