This salacious news will doubtless keep the gossip mill working overtime. But failure to keep the marriage vows is first and foremost a private matter - between the transgressor and his or her spouse. For public officials, however, extramarital sexual dalliances often spill into the public arena. In this case, Figueroa has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Norquist. While an affair may be private, harassment is not.
Harassment implies malfeasance in office.
Of course, a mere charge of wrongdoing doesn't mean it took place, and the mayor has denied it. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating. The public, of course, has a right to know the outcome of that probe - for reasons other than prurience. The affair first intruded into the news, ironically, as a result of action by the mayor's staff, which sought to get the district attorney's office to charge state Rep. Pedro Colon with extortion. Colon, a lawyer and friend of both Figueroa and Norquist, was seeking to mediate the employment dispute between the two.