In the midst of a major pandemic of lust and scandal amongst high-ranking political figures, it seems as though America has been forced to watch a bad rendition of “Politicians Gone Wild,” as news headlines blare alleged sordid details of wrongdoings by Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and now former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Both men have come under fire due to extramarital affairs that are leading to what may be their undoing. In the case of Kilpatrick, careless text messaging between him and his mistress, Christine Beatty, has reopened issues that date back as far as 2003. In Spitzer’s case, he displayed blatant aloofness with regard to his position by indulging in high-priced prostitution that has not only cost him his reputation, but also his job.

The burning question in the mind of many constituents seems to be this: Should we really care if political officials cheat on their spouses? Well, if you take time to look deeper into the inner workings of these indiscretions, the facts do indeed point to a multitude of problems that they have caused for the people these men were hired to serve.

In 2007, the 2003 whistle-blower case involving two Detroit policemen who claimed wrongful dismissal by Kilpatrick went to trial after the mayor rejected a settlement arrived at by the city Law Department. During the trial the mayor testified that he was not romantically involved with his then chief of staff, Christine Beatty. The end result of that case was a verdict in favor of the terminated police officers that cost Detroit taxpayers $8.4 million.

Now, one year later, the text message scandal reveals that the mayor apparently lied under oath when he denied romantic involvement with Christine Beatty and will now cost the taxpayers more money for impending legal fees. Similarly, Spitzer will cost New York taxpayers countless amounts of money in the costs associated with his impending case.

Disappointingly enough, Kilpatrick has yet to take responsibility for any wrongdoing. Instead of admitting that he has made some bad decisions and displayed a wealth of bad judgment, he continues to wag his index finger instead of pointing his thumb.

Blatant, inflammatory statements like, “This unethical, illegal, lynch mob mentality has to stop!” circulated on the airwaves during the mayor’s city address on March 11. He then went on to inform about how in the past 30 days, he has been called a nigger more times than in his entire life and received more death threats than he has during his entire administration.

But not once did he apologize for failing his constituents or for costing the Detroit economy millions of dollars. Conversely, Spitzer at least had the decency to step down from office.

The underlying question that remains through all of this is how will all of this affect the people?

Detroit continues to be thrown in the spotlight as one of the worst cities in America, and the antics of a self-proclaimed hip-hop mayor who continues to get in to trouble is something that the city just doesn’t need.

Admittedly, Kilpatrick has done much to improve the city’s economic conditions, but is the positive enough to outweigh the negative that continues to resurface?

Are we as voters going to continue to be forced to deal with dirty politics and propaganda, or will the powers that be step up and serve the people that they have sworn to protect? Only time will tell.