The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

And Her Name Is ‘Quackenbush’

Posted on | December 3, 2011 | 12 Comments

You need a laugh? I need a laugh. And we are therefore grateful to an erstwhile “rising star” in New York Democratic Party politics:

Albany County District Attorney David Soares today acknowledged a longstanding intimate relationship with a junior female staffer whose siblings have been prosecuted on multiple occasions by his office.
Soares, 42, said he has been involved in a “committed” relationship with legal secretary Stacey Quackenbush, 26, for at about a year. Soares is divorced from his first wife, Tina Pantuso, with whom he has two children.
The district attorney called his relationship with Quackenbush a “personal issue” that is “not newsworthy and certainly not appropriate for public debate or discussion.”
Soares said he is aware of the appearance of a conflict and indicated Quackenbush has been seeking employment elsewhere.
He also suggested a report of his connection to Quackenbush, which appeared Friday night on a local blog — Albanycitizenone.com — was politically motivated.
“I find it unfortunate that my personal relationships are the subject of political fodder less than 24 hours after the announcement of my political opponent,” Soares said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.
This is clearly a political effort to malign my reputation for the simple reason that my record as Albany County District Attorney is one that I am proud of.”

(Hat-tip: Dave Weigel on Twitter.) Four relevant points:

  1. As we have recently seen, it is not generally an effective public-relations tactic for politicians accused of wrongdoing to suggest that the accusations are “politically motivated.” Well, of course, they’re politically motivated! People who make accusations are your enemies, not your allies, and politics is a contact sport.
  2. When a public official is having a sexual relationship with his workplace subordinate, this is wrong per se. Why? Because taxpayers are in effect being compelled to hire girlfriends for the public official. It’s one thing if two file clerks at the county courthouse fall in love. It’s another thing entirely for the judge to be banging a file clerk.
  3. It was not until the eighth paragraph that this story mentioned that Soares is, in fact, a Democrat.
  4. His girlfriend’s name is “Quackenbush”!

That there’s funny, I don’t care who you are! Merry Christmas!

Comments

12 Responses to “And Her Name Is ‘Quackenbush’”

  1. newrouter
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 7:20 pm

    and hit the freakin’ tip jar!

  2. richard mcenroe
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 7:37 pm

    How lame do you have to be to be the freaking DA and not be able to get your hootchie mama a job?

  3. Dianna Deeley
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 7:46 pm

    Yes, it made me laugh! Thanks. I’ve been a bit down in the mouth, today.

  4. Zilla of the Resistance
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 8:26 pm

    Also in addition to the fraternizing is the fact that his office was in charge of prosecuting several criminal cases for her relatives. That alone is plenty scandalous. He should have recused himself from those cases.

  5. andycanuck
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 8:43 pm

    Her name’s “Hackinapuss”?
    /Chico

    :^O
    /Harpo

  6. Adjoran
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 10:20 pm

    As far as Democrats go, this guy is pretty mild.  He’s divorced, his girlfriend at least shows up to work and has a relatively low-level job.  If he’s not stealing any other monies in the process, he would come in the top 5% of elected Democrats ethically.

    Plus, he is appealing to another core Democratic constituency: before his girlfriend became Stacey Quackenbush, her pre-op name was Titus Uranus.

  7. JeffS
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 10:25 pm

    This has got to be the funniest post in a long time!

    How so?  Not only is her name “Quackenbush”, her name is “STACEY Quackenbush”.

    I rest my case.

  8. ThePaganTemple
    December 3rd, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

    With a little work this might be a good movie, but who would play Quackenbush?

  9. Adjoran
    December 4th, 2011 @ 1:38 am

    “Yo, Stacey – put a fedora on that Quackenbush until you can get in for a wax job.”

  10. Concitz
    December 4th, 2011 @ 12:26 pm

    She was already working at the D.A..s when they met! Idiots

  11. ThePaganTemple
    December 4th, 2011 @ 11:30 pm

    So in other words, she became his private whore in order to keep her job. I see now. Thanks for the input.

  12. EriK
    December 5th, 2011 @ 3:48 pm

    She is a former stripper (FOR REAL). not that there is anything wrong with that.