Will Weinberg dare mention colleagues’ predatory sexual behavior???
/By Rubashov
Led by Governor Phil Murphy, Trenton Democrats are feigning “shock” over an NJ.com report detailing the predatory sexual behavior of many who run New Jersey’s government, political, and lobbying institutions. What shameless hypocrisy! Their disbelief and shock are reminiscent of that famous scene from the movie Casablanca…
Save Jersey’s Matt Rooney was quick to note: “It’s especially curious given Murphy’s well-known practice of employing non-disclosure agreements to muzzle women who work for him.”
Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) expressed the disbelief shared by many, when he wrote: “The fact that the Governor can utter these quotes with no sense of shame or irony, while his campaign attorneys continue to threaten female campaign consultants WITH RETALIATION (emphasis not enough) if they speak out about the atmosphere/incidents on his campaign, is astounding.”
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) has proposed setting up an “ad-hoc committee” to address “misogyny and sexual harassment” among New Jersey’s political and lobbying class. According to press reports, Senator Weinberg has invited veteran lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, political operative Julie Roginsky and Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Senate Majority Counsel Alison Accettola and Senate Minority Executive Director Christine Shipley to serve on the panel.
Outside of Ms. Teffenhart, this appears to be an insiders’ panel and we seriously doubt that someone like Ms. Accettola will actually call out her bosses or a lobbyist like Ms. LaRue will be in an economic position to be an independent whistleblower. It simply isn’t credible.
Senator Weinberg knows this – and her efforts appear more and more to be along the lines of an attempt to seize control of a potential scandal, control it before it gets out of hand, and then brush it under the rug. Like they did the rape case, still unresolved, of Katie Brennan. Nobody was charged. Blame was sufficiently obfuscated and dispersed. The Trenton way.
“Entering a sexual relationship with a subordinate, even when the contact is initiated by the latter, is considered unethical by some because of the subordinate's vulnerability to the superior and the inequality of power that characterizes the relationship.” (Wikipedia… on Sexual Misconduct)
Weinberg and her committee must be committed to taking on the problem at its source. That means identifying those in the governmental/ political/ lobbyist power structure who sleep with staff members they have the power to fire at will. Those who have sexual dependents on their payrolls.
This is where the rot begins. The military doesn’t allow such fraternization. Neither do enlightened corporations. What message does it send? What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace? Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said.
Writing about the Weinstein rape case, Alexia Fernandez Campbell, of the Aspen Institute, notes: “Sexual misconduct is pretty broad — it can cover everything from asking a work subordinate out on a date to pressuring them for sex in exchange for career advancement.”
Are the reports detailed by NJ.com evidence of a social pathology at the heart of the Trenton Establishment? Here is therapist Steve Becker’s take on sociopaths. Does it sound like some of the folks rolling around Trenton?
Pathologically self-centered individuals, such as sociopaths or narcissists, often project a level of self-confidence that is pathologically tremendous. This can be a problem for others who, unlike the sociopath, will be prone to empathy and self-reflection, along with which come self-doubt and hence fluctuating, less dependable levels of confidence.
But the pathologically self-centered individual is often seemingly immune to self-doubt and can thus seem implacably, impressively confident. Why?
The answer is surprisingly simple: When your interest in others is principally, if not entirely, about what you can get, or take, from them; when you lack the capacity for, and/or inclination to, genuine, thoughtful self-reflection; and when the meaning, or purpose, of life is fundamentally reduced to the expectation, and pursuit, of continual gratification, you have a prescription not only for pathological self-centeredness, but its frequent concomitant—pathological self-confidence.
Think about it: for such an individual, it is mostly, and sometimes only, about what he wants. And if he knows what he wants, such an individual will feel entitled to it. And his sense of entitlement becomes self-validating—self-validating, that is, of whatever argument, rationalization, or manipulation brings him closer to his demand.
In other words, the pathologically self-centered individual has something very powerful in his favor—conviction. His is the conviction of his entitlement, of his right to have what he wants—whether it’s agreement, an apology, special attention, cooperation, sex, a favor, forgiveness, you name it.
And he wields his sense of conviction powerfully and persuasively—all the more so if he’s also articulate and glib.
This explains how a sociopath can look you in the eye and blame you for something—even his victimization of you—and yet you struggle to fully disbelieve him. As I just noted, if he is intelligent and glib, he is in an even better position to erode your sense of reality. He can construct positions, however absurd and even confirming of his sociopathic orientation, that nevertheless have just enough superficial plausibility to arrest your attention.
Once you’ve been disarmed, even slightly, his impregnably confident assertions, stemming from his pathological self-centeredness, can have a brainwashing influence.
You wonder if you’re not crazy? The “gaslighting effect” is in full throttle. It is disorienting, literally, to have someone present even a ridiculous proposition, demand, or accusation with unwavering confidence and certitude.
And the disorienting effect is magnified exponentially when the assertion is simultaneously packaged in superficially intelligent, coherent, “rational”-sounding language. Confidence in one’s sense of reality can wane, and fail, under this combination assault.
This can explain why sometimes extremely intelligent, thoughtful and self-respecting individuals can actually be at greater risk of accepting and tolerating abuse. It can be a case of the exploiter’s pathologically inflated confidence overwhelming the more self-questioning, self-doubting individual’s reality.
Here’s an idea…
Why not ditch all those Trenton insiders and put together a committee made-up of average, common-sense taxpayers and mental health professionals? Maybe the latter will confirm what the former has long suspected: Trenton is nuts.
