It’s Easy to Take Spill Off Political High-Wire

In this political summer of living dangerously, Robert Dold is just one of many politicians to inspire head-scratching.

He’s the Republican Congressional candidate in the north-suburban 10th District, a Republican mainstay that leans Democratic in presidential campaigns. His game plan is obvious: He needs most of the Republican voters, then a few Democrats and independents, and he needs to come off as fiscally conservative, tough on defense and moderate on social issues.

So he calls himself “pro-choice” but gets support from anti-abortion groups, although not Planned Parenthood, which says his Democratic rival, Dan Seals, is the only pro-choice candidate. When Mr. Dold is asked if he thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned, he doesn’t say no, merely, “I just don’t think that’s realistic at this time.”

It’s a predictable candidacy of winks, nods and deflections, or what passes for pragmatism. A self-proclaimed “conservative choice” in the Republican primary in February, he now morphs into a middle-of-the-road guy whom a Tea Party zealot can still support.

During our Blagojevich-tainted summer, there are more egregious case studies.

They include the man Mr. Dold wants to succeed, Republican Mark Kirk, who is battling the truth as his United States Senate campaign is sidetracked by deceits concerning his résumé, notably his military service and his tenure as a teacher.

Improbably, his mis-statements have turned the news media spotlight away from Alexi Giannoulias, his Democratic opponent, whom Mr. Kirk battered for his family bank’s problems. But Mr. Giannoulias is alive, well and, last week, pandering by telling Downstate farmers that farms worth less than $10 million should be made exempt from inheritance taxes.

He did not explain why other family businesses worth less than $10 million shouldn’t be similarly helped. It’s a bit like being a pro-choice “true conservative.”

Then there’s Pat Quinn, the accidental governor. He left us dizzy with a series of Olympian 180-degree turns on campaign finance reform, capital spending, taxes, a threat to fire two University of Illinois trustees, and forcing teachers and other state workers to contribute more to pensions.

Changing a position can be necessary and honorable. It can also be spineless. If Mr. Quinn, the state’s most successful “gadfly,” inspires an image of “goofball,” his Republican opponent, Bill Brady, may benefit and lead us to his promised land — where there are no taxes and where most men and women can carry concealed guns.

Finally, there’s Jerry Stermer, the governor’s former chief of staff, who resigned after voluntarily admitting to sending campaign-related e-mail on his state account.

You can argue that his mistake was penny ante and that it’s naïve to think governing and campaigning don’t unavoidably meld. After all, any government goes out of its way to hide mistakes, exaggerate successes and fudge data — all to make an administration look good. Most officials have an eye on the election of their next boss, be it the governor, mayor or president.

But we have laws that call for separation of campaigning and governing. It’s not a Sisyphean task to be scrupulous about using personal e-mail for nongovernment missives.

You’d assume that, because of the Blagojevich impeachment, folks in power would verge on the faultless. As Jeff Seglin, an Emerson College professor and ethics columnist, said, it’s not as if Mr. Stermer broke the rules in service of some greater good or as an act of civil disobedience to argue the merits of the relevant law.

Yes, you can claim that he got caught “jaywalking” and that his act pales in comparison to what too often is deemed acceptable. You can declare that there are worse infractions, or that people get away with stuff daily that should be against the law but isn’t.

In that case, we should get better at nabbing folks for the bigger infractions and pass new laws on the slimy stuff people get away with now. The latter includes some pinstriped patronage and back-scratching, replete with fat kickbacks via “consulting” fees.

And, ultimately, we should hold folks accountable if they walk an ethical high wire. We fall short, as we’ve learned with Mr. Blagojevich — especially during a second run for governor, when he won easily despite a distinctly growing aroma.

It’s the same with guys who fib about military pasts, keep reversing positions or try to have it both ways on abortion.