Where’s personal responsibility in the stages of political grief?
Politicians often are heard preaching the virtues of personal responsibility.
So why is it, when they find themselves in a mess of their own making, that they so often try to shirk all responsibility?
Sparks Republican Ira Hansen was forced to step down as speaker-designate of the Assembly on Sunday because he’d written years worth of hateful, sexist, homophobic and racist things in the Sparks Tribune.
Instead of taking personal responsibility, Hansen dived immediately into the Five Stages of Political Grief.
Stage One: The Non-Apology Apology. Initially, Hansen put out a statement saying “I am deeply sorry that comments I have made in the past have offended many Nevadans.” Oh, and “I have the utmost respect for all people without regard to race, gender, religious or political beliefs.”
Got that? He’s not sorry he wrote those things, he’s sorry if you were offended by them. And do you notice who’s not on the list of people he has the utmost respect for? (Hint: It’s gay people).
Anyway, after it was revealed that Hansen had said even more outrageous things about gays last year, he moved on to …
Stage Two: Victimhood. After the non-apology apology didn’t work, and the story went national, Hansen claimed he was being attacked. He called it “the politics of character assassination,” and “bully tactics,” adding “No matter who is speaker, count on it, they will try and [sic] trash us.”
It’s true there will always be political infighting. But most Republicans would probably prefer it not be about whether their elected speaker would feel more comfortable in 1861 Georgia than 2014 Nevada. That led Hansen to …
Stage Three: Blame Diffusion. After finally realizing he could not hold onto the speaker’s gavel (that might have had something to do with Gov. Brian Sandoval telling him to quit), Hansen stepped down. But not before he and his enablers spun a conspiracy theory: He was deposed not for his beliefs on race, gender and sexual orientation, but on taxes!
That’s right: Hansen — who voted twice to extend expiring taxes for a grand total of $1.2 billion — said the governor and his close advisers feared he’d stand in the way of a planned tax increase. After all, Hansen said, he’s been around for two terms (or four years) and nobody cared about his writings before.
Of course, that theory doesn’t hold water: Hansen will still be around as a regular Assembly member to vote and speak against taxes, and nobody in the Republican caucus has changed their vote based on Hansen’s scandal. And even Hansen must understand the scrutiny that applies to the speaker is greater than that applied to a back-bench member of the political minority. That brings us to …
Stage Four: Denial. Hansen insists the committee assignments he made and the staff he chose remain in place, regardless of who is chosen as speaker to replace him. Meanwhile, his colleagues have forgotten his name as they scramble to assemble a coalition around one of several potential replacements. That leaves Hansen plenty of time for …
Stage Five: Acceptance. Hansen could look himself in the mirror and acknowledge that it wasn’t the media, the governor, the governor’s consultants, Democrats or more moderate Republicans who put him in his dilemma. They didn’t write his columns. They didn’t think his dark thoughts. He did that. And while he has the absolute right to write and publish his views (even on his official state letterhead), he has to acknowledge that exercising that right comes with a consequence: You can’t do those things and also be speaker of the Nevada Assembly.
He could admit that, at least to himself. But sadly, he’s probably going to skip that stage and go right to …
Stage Six: Fading Away Into Inevitable Ignominy and Obscurity. Ira, we hardly knew ye, but the ye we knew was way, way too much.
Steve Sebelius is a Las Vegas Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.
