Posted on 04/13/2012 9:20:46 PM PDT by SmithL
John Burton was well on his way to becoming a political icon when he resigned from Congress in 1982 to battle an alcohol and cocaine addiction, but he won't deign to say Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer should follow his example and step down.
As a politician who famously climbed back into the public arena, Burton said Friday that whether an addict is a street-sweeper, a county supervisor or the president of the United States, you don't get well until you commit to getting well.
Whatever comes next is "her decision," Burton said of Lockyer. "The only person who can make a decision about themselves with a problem like this is that person."
After two months of lurid revelations about her affair and addiction, the supervisor and wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer is struggling to regain control of her career and life.
Two veteran Democratic political strategists said Friday that restoring her image at the very least will require an honest, full disclosure of all that has happened, and at most could require her to give up her office while she gets her personal house in order.
"This is less a damage-control, crisis-management situation and much more a person who is dealing with some obvious ongoing personal challenges," said Chris Lehane, of San Francisco, a well-known political consultant who has worked with politicians in crisis.
Lockyer's public meltdown began in February when she said that she'd been assaulted in a Newark hotel room by an ex-lover and then revealed she was going into rehab for "alcoholism and addiction." The two months since have brought a series of accusations -- text messages, voice mails, photos. The latest twist arrived this week through an email from her personal account to this newspaper that accused her husband of supplying her with drugs. The alarming email ended with a terrifying coda: "I simply can't bear this any longer. Goodbye to everyone."
Lockyer, 40, later insisted she didn't send the email or write the claims about her husband, but only drafted the portions about her anguish over her ex-boyfriend Stephen Chikhani. She claimed Chikhani had been hacking into her account -- an accusation his lawyer denied. Through a spokesman, Bill Lockyer called the allegations about him "totally, utterly false." Nadia Lockyer was at work the next day, heading a committee meeting.
Burton has more perspective on Nadia Lockyer's slide than most. He had served almost a decade in the Assembly and seven years in Congress when he resigned his House seat in 1982. Yet, after rehabilitation, he served again in the Assembly from 1988 to 1996; as the state Senate president pro tem from 1996 to 2004; and from 2009 through now as the California Democratic Party's chairman.
"The only thing I know about chemical dependency is the first step is up to the individual," Burton said. Some can "cold-turkey themselves" and some need professional help, he said. "There are no guarantees in life, and chemical dependency is a disease that's with you the rest of your life; you deal with it one day at a time.
"The fact that she's in public life is really not that relevant to anybody but her and the people she works for, her constituents," he said.
By law, it seems as if it's only for her to decide whether she steps down. The Alameda County Charter gives the board of supervisors the authority "to suspend an elected county officer who has been charged by information or indictment with a felony related to misconduct in office, pending the trial of such charges." In this situation, no charges have been filed against anyone.
But one veteran strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said her course should be clear.
"Staying in public life is only going to do her more damage; you can't really regroup," he said. "It's sort of learning how to swim in the middle of the ocean -- you've got to get out of the water and take a breath or else you're going to get exhausted and drown."
This strategist also said the crisis -- as long as the drug allegations are false -- shouldn't have a lasting effect on the political viability of 70-year-old Bill Lockyer, who has held elected office since 1973 and has formed a committee to run for state controller in 2014.
Lehane said someone in Bill Lockyer's shoes should be saying only that his family "is dealing with a very challenging situation involving some decisions, and we obviously understand as public figures that people are going to be interested in this, and when we're in a position to share more we'll do so." In fact, that's pretty close to what Bill Lockyer has been saying since February.
Politicians in Nadia Lockyer's situation, however, must rebuild discipline and credibility, and that means full disclosure, Lehane said.
"You have to do the full monty so -- no matter how embarrassing or unflattering an issue is -- you get in front of it, as it will not be a question of 'if' but 'when' the info becomes public," Lehane said. "And it is better to come from you -- that is the definition of damage control."
She could run for Governor
Maybe Bill might get to be that wife he was talking about a few years ago when he said..
"I would love to personally escort Ken Lay [Enron CEO Kenneth Lay] to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey'".
So, what exactly does he know about the President and his addiction?
Interesting point. It seems Democrats can’t stop hinting about Zero, drugs, homosexuality ... but nobody cares.
Like when Barney Frank calls a conservative a ‘tea-bagger’.
Among Democrats, absolutely.
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