Cover Ups, Again and Again and Again

Whether its the fortieth anniversary of Watergate or the just concluded Jerry Sandusky trial, we keep seeing, not only the crimes, but the cover ups. Often, the cover ups bring about a bigger downfall than the crime itself.

In June of 1972, people working for Richard Nixon's re-election campaign were caught breaking into the Democrat's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. What started as a simple, poorly executed burglary, ended up with a large number of White House operatives doing time, not to mention, the only incidence of a president having to resign.

Over twenty yeatrs later, another president almost wound up with the same fate as Nixon. No, Bill Clinton did not get impeached for fooling around with an intern, he got impeached for lying under oath in an attempt to cover it up. If he had just admitted it, as he eventually did anyway, most people wouldn't have cared. Well, maybe Hillary cared. But he wouldn't have been only the second president in history to get impeached.

Remember when Martha Stewart had to trade her designer outfits for an orange jumpsuit? She and her broker, who also enjoyed a stay at the Greybar Hotel, fudged some documents to make it look as if she and the broker hadn't acted on inside information. The fine for which would have been a rather small monetary penalty, probably not much more than the original ill gotten gain.

Over the past decade, it hurt to see my church, the Roman Catholics take heat over the long running sex abuse scandal. Now, every priest is under a cloud of suspicion. Not because of what a few bad ones did, but because of the concerted effort the church put forward in trying to cover up the abuse. Rather than notifying the authorities when there were allegations against a priest, the church hierarchy just shuffled him along to prey on another parish. What's really sad is the fact that the percentage of pedophile priests is not all that different than the percentage of pedophiles in any other walk of life. Its just that "other walks of life" don't try to shuffle it away.

Now we have a scandal that will probably put Jerry Sandusky away for life (as I write this, the jury has begun deliberations and Matt Sandusky has come forward as yet another victim), but will also severly tarnish the reputation of a great institution, Penn State University. The university president has been fired and two other administrators have been indicted. Joe Paterno, a man long respected as a leader of men, on and off the field, wound down the last few months of his life in total disgrace. And that's just the beginning of what will be a long drawn out assault on the reputation and bankroll of Penn State and those who ran it.The list goes on and on.

Whether its to protect the reputation of an individual or a group, whether its to preserve a marriage or fundraising, big time cover ups hide small time transgressions. Perhaps, it seems as if the cover up will work and no one gets harmed. Maybe Paterno and company thought that Sandusky would just go away quietly (they made him leave his job after all) and the Penn State name would forever be heralded.

I'd like to think that folks would have learned that these cover ups just don't work. But, I know I'd be wrong. And that's a mistake I wouldn't want to cover up.