Robert Halderman, Winner: David Letterman

by Robin Sax

CBS News producer Robert Halderman plead guilty to second-degree larceny in a New York courtroom this week. It is quietly over for David Letterman, who has come out on top of this whole mess. No trial, no fuss, and no punch line. Halderman attempted to extort $2 million from Letterman back in October of 2009 by threatening to expose the late night host’s affair with Stephanie Birkitt and other sexual liaisons.

But Letterman went on national television and preempted Halderman. He came clean about having the affairs. He bravely thwarted Halderman’s attempted extortion. And we all gasped!

I know we were all pretty shocked when Letterman made his announcement. Perhaps the most unbelievable part of this story was not that he was extorted, not that he had sex while having a girlfriend, and not that Robert Halderman actually tried to cash the $2 million check. Oh, no, it was the response of Letterman's audience that was most intriguing.

His audience laughed at what they thought was a punch line, but this was no joke. If you watch that original admission back in October you’ll see the strain and lines in Letterman’s forehead. This was no laughing matter. But Letterman gets the last laugh now.

I say kudos to Letterman, who probably made one of the most difficult appearances in his career. To come clean before the whole nation is something we don’t see very often.  Actually, I don’t even remember the last celebrity figure or politician who had the guts to do it.

A decade ago, such an announcement could have been the beginning of the end of a career. But honesty goes a long way today. Letterman will move on unscathed.

When Letterman addressed the case this week, his audience had a decidedly different reaction: somber and respectful.

Letterman started with: “I need to talk to you about a segment of my life here that began six months ago,” and the audience received him very well.

Letterman said he brought the matter to the attention of the New York District Attorney’s office because he “was concerned and full of anxiety and nervous and worried.”  The District Attorney’s office told Letterman at the time that the case “will be handled professionally, this will be handled skillfully, and appropriately.”

Letterman praised the NY DA’s office, saying: “Well, the matter was resolved today, and they were exactly right – it was handled professionally, skillfully and appropriately.” He then personally thanked members of the DA’s office.

As part of a plea bargain, Halderman will receive six months in jail, five years probation, and a thousand hours of community service.  I think Halderman should get more then six months, but that’s just me.

Letterman, meanwhile, wanted to ensure that he wasn’t going to be extorted again, so he did the right thing: he shaped the message and told the truth.  All public figures, politicians, law enforcement and entertainment personalities should learn from Letterman’s example.

But it's likely that in the future, public figures will still pretend “it never happened” when things come out -- and then have to lamely apologize when it’s proved that “yes, it did!”  Fact is this:  Today, people will find out about your mistakes and talk about them. In the global media market, with interconnected networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn, you can’t hide from the truth. 

If you’re honest, just like Letterman, you'll come out on top. You may even get applause, and in the end, justice. Letterman is the big winner here and will move on with his life as the host of The Late Show. The loser, Halderman, is exactly where he should be: in jail.

Tweet

2009 - SEX, SEX AND MORE SEX

   
by Katherine Scardino


I thought I'd get your attention with the title to my post this week. What a year! How about that Tiger Woods, eh? What a man! I read a comment by Donald Trump, the icon of faithfulness, who said “Tiger Woods is going to be hotter than ever before.” Well, perhaps so. Being a married man and having an extramarital affair does seem to be de riguer this year. We've read the statistics about the large number of women in the United States who have been raped. One statistic from 2004, its reliability subsequently questioned, was one in four women. Even if it were one in 10 women, that's still a horrifying number -- especially if you are a woman in the United States. Each of you have 10 female friends. Look around you. Statistically, either you or one of your 10 friends will be raped in your lifetimes. Not a pretty picture.

But let’s be realistic. Are we, as a nation and a society, telling the male population that taking advantage of a woman, whether the extreme act of violence against a woman, or having a lustful, consensual relationship that makes your skin tingle -- while married -- is acceptable in our world? Do men not think they're taking advantage of a wife when they have sex with another woman? My comment to men who come to my office and start complaining about their married life is: you got yourself into this situation. If you're not happy, take action. Talk to her. Do something about it -- and that doesn't include having sex on the side. That’s the wimpy way of handling an unhappy marital relationship.

This year, we had a lot of men -- bad boys -- to talk about. Tiger Woods, of course, but then he's turned out to be a total jerk. But since my job is generally to look at both sides of a situation; didn't his wife know what was going on? For whatever reason (maybe 300 million or so of them), she must have decided she preferred to stay where she was. But for that impulsive drive down the driveway into a tree, we probably still wouldn't  know what all he'd  been up to. I still think there was a logical reason why Elin had that golf club in her hand. (Heh, heh...) Bad, bad boy!

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford gets my vote for the whiniest bad boy. Oh goodness, he flies to Argentina (on taxpayer dollars) to see his long-time mistress while telling his staff, and presumably his wife, that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Now, really -- what governor’s staff is going to let their boss go hiking mountain trails by himself, and who would really believe that anyway? What politician doesn't relish the security detail? The whiniest politicians are most likely to see an assassin behind every corner just waiting to knock off his attractive butt. As you can tell, I wasn't impressed with the Sanford story. If he wants to go see his mistress and leave his wife at home, go for it -- but have the cajones to tell Ms. Sanford. She is, after all, his legal partner and the mother of his children. Not nice.

John Edwards. Oh my gawd! Mister Nice Guy; Mister Good Husband and Father; Mister Religious Person; Mister Husband Who Stands Beside His Cancerous Wife: he's a fraud in every way. Actually, he's  scary. If he could convince so many people to believe they might  vote for him in a presidential election, just imagine what he could do with international politics. No, not much to say about John Edwards. He is bad to the core.

Then we had David Letterman. Okay, I admit it -- I like David Letterman, and frankly, I thought he handled the entire “expose” fairly well. He admitted his affair, and he joked about the scandal and about himself to his national audience. I'm sure his wife didn't find it amusing and told him so in an appropriate manner. However, I felt that he handled the indiscretion with a little style and hopefully, those two will work things out. I'm rooting for them.

And, now, a local scandal. One of our Harris County, Texas, county court-at-law judges was accused of official oppression. He didn't actually have sex with another woman, but career-wise, he might as well have had mad, lustful sex in the middle of the courtroom on a Monday morning at 10:00 a.m.  Sitting on the bench one day, he saw an attractive woman  -- a defendant in his courtroom. The judge got her telephone number, called her, and asked her out for dinner. She went. Then she alleged that he'd told her that he would get her a better lawyer if she didn't like her own and, she alleged, he said he wanted a long-term relationship with her. I suppose he gets some credit for not wanting a one-night stand. The District Attorney’s Office sent an investigator to interview the judge in his chambers. The judge talked to the investigator without knowing he was being secretly recorded. The defense tried to attack the credibility and  reputation of the woman. It didn't work. A jury found him guilty.

These are just a few of the many sexual incidents in the news during 2009. Not one was charged with an offense, except the judge in my jurisdiction.  He was tried and found guilty, but only on charges of “official oppression”. The other examples might elicit sympathy for the wife, or in some cases, even the bad boy. You may complain that I've only relayed sexually imprudent incidents committed by the male half of our population. Well, I thought about that -- and other than stupid, young Hollywood bimbos, I can't recall any significant news story involving a woman running off with another man and getting caught. Did I miss something? Hollywood gave us Roman Polanski, again, this year. Sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Really. Was that before or after Woody Allen? Who have I missed??

Tweet