Hendren?s Games Don?t Fool Everyone

It’s hard to say who was more shameful recently: 3rd Congressional District candidate Jim Hendren, who played media games in a continuing display of poor judgment, or the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which played right into his political handlers.

Hendren and the Democrat-Gazette would have us believe that he stepped forward bravely to confess and discuss his extramarital affair forthrightly after playing word games and enduring rumors for months.

What he and his campaign advisers did, through a na?ve statewide daily newspaper, was spin the issue into a cry for forgiveness after getting caught and trying to shift the focus to political opponents who allegedly tipped off the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Hendren summoned the D-G and The Morning News to an interview on Aug. 20. What the D-G didn’t tell its readers is that this timing conveniently coincided with a cover story in the Business Journal and Arkansas Business the same day.

It was just a week earlier that Jeffrey Wood, editor of the Business Journal, addressed the issue with Hendren during interviews with the candidates. The interview took place at Hendren’s campaign headquarters.

The family-values candidate and his handlers essentially went nuts. Wood had the name of the woman involved and the details, and Hendren was stunned.

During the next couple of days, threats of a lawsuit were being delivered. In particular, the Hendren camp insisted that it would be inflammatory for the story to say the candidate admitted to an extramarital affair.

But instead of serving what would be a totally baseless lawsuit, he delivered the blunt truth to two other reporters about how he contributed to the breakup of a marriage and cheated on his wife and family. He wants to be forgiven so he can go serve the 3rd District in Washington and vote like a social conservative while not necessarily living like one.

Yes, marital infidelities are personal matters, but starting with the Gary Hart episode during his presidential campaign in the 1980s and continuing through the Clinton presidency, elements of one’s personal life have become part of American politics. Character and judgment are more important to some voters than others.

Lack of judgment is incredibly blatant in Hendren’s case. His affair was beginning to develop about the time his uncle, Tim Hutchinson, was in the process of getting a divorce on the road toward marriage to a former member of his Senate staff.

But to deliberately work overtime to try to kill a story and then tell reporters that he wanted to step forward and confess — and had been deliberating such a confession for months — is an absolute joke.

Hendren couldn’t talk about his indiscretions without taking a shot at his opponents’ character. His affair was the worst kept secret in Arkansas politics, and the media — including the Business Journal — needed no assistance from his opponents to find the truth.

A glowing Hendren editorial in the D-G said: “Jim Hendren appears to have accepted the discomfort of full disclosure.” I would suggest it’s easier to accept discomfort and follow your conscience (as the editorial suggested) after you’ve been confronted with the facts by someone who is going to report them and leave you little choice. His motive for confessing was to try and salvage an election — he never intended to do the right thing until faced with the knowledge of the impending Business Journal story.

Hendren has made choices during the past two years, and he must live with the consequences. He chose to have an affair with a married woman, and he chose to seek a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Now he has chosen to challenge the integrity of our publications and the character of his opponents. When one considers the source, it’s not hard to get over.