Breaking News: Controller Candidate Caught in 1993 "Prostitution Sting"

I was once told by a political consultant that before you decide to run for public office, you should “search your closet” for your “deepest, darkest skeleton,” and if you can live with that “skeleton” appearing on the front page of the newspaper, go ahead an place your name on the ballot. One of those skeletons has emerged from the closet of Luzerne County Republican Controller candidate Walter Griffith's closet in the form of a criminal citation for patronizing a prostitute in July of 1993.

We have afforded Griffith the opportunity to respond, and he has done so. His response is posted below.

Once you place your name on the ballot, everything becomes fair game. It is this very thing that deters many fine persons from ever seeking political office.

In this age of the twenty four hour news cycle, which includes anyone with a computer and the urge or will to blog, the public scrutiny of even candidates for minor offices has become intense. The public’s right to know has become great and, at some times, insatiable.

We do not take our obligations as bloggers lightly. We try our best not to engage in rumor or gossip, and we steer away from personal attacks and try to give an objective viewpoint based upon facts.

We consulted many a trusted friend today on the decision to post or not to post. Many asked us not to post this article because of its remoteness to present day and for the sake of Walter Griffith’s family. We struggled today with the decision, but decided the public is the ultimate arbitrator of whether or not Griffith’s actions 16 years ago are relevant to his ability to serve as Luzerne County Controller.

We strongly believe a public official or public office seeker’s family’s private lives are off limits, but we also strongly believe that the private actions of a public official or office seeker are fair game.

Harry Truman is famously quoted as saying, “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” In the spirit of those words of wisdom, “if you don’t want your private life made public, don’t run for public office.”

We are not personally swayed or influenced in the least bit by remote and distant private actions of candidates for public office which do not directly affect that person’s ability to carry out the duties of the office which he or she seeks. People are human, and it is through mistakes and misdeeds that we learn. Squeaky clean politicians scare us, but not everyone thinks that way. Some look to the private actions of a politician, regardless of their remoteness, as an important indication of one’s public character.

We make no comment on the incident or Griffith's account of his actions that night. The public will be the ultimate judge.

Here is Griffith's account of the incident in his own words:

"The incident happened on July 16th 1993 on my 40th birthday and I went to the place on S Main St to pick up my sister in law to go out and have a few drinks to celebrate my birthday, because my wife was working and could not go with us. My sister in Law worked for an answering service in the building directly in front of where the "Sting Operation" was being performed.

While I was waiting outside of the building, I was asked by an undercover Policewoman, what I was doing there and I explained I was waiting for someone and then I was told to drive around the rear of the building and there I was arrested for soliciting a prostitute.

I appeared before Magistrate Collins and was found not guilty but paid a fine for loitering.

I apologized to my wife at the time and have asked God for forgiveness for this incident even though I, in my opinion, was not doing anything wrong, other than going to celebrate my 40th birthday and was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This incident happened 16 years ago and I have changed my life and am a new person and that is what I am inside and outside."