Anderson, IN — The citizens of a southern Indiana county are breathing a collective sigh of relief that Republican Councilman David McCartney is (still) on the job. This after McCartney revealed that a string of sexually explicit emails he sent to a female colleague were part of a ruse he devised to expose corruption.

The interest in the Councilman’s emails began with a heated debate over taxes in February. This led to taxpayers requesting access to email records for the Madison County Councilmen and the County Recorder. While reviewing the emails for discussion related to the tax, taxpayers were surprised to find sexually explicit emails between McCartney – who is married – and a female assessor from another county.

“You are too sweet, just so happens you taste sweet as well.” McCartney said in an email dated Feb. 21.

My first inclination – as, I believe, many others – would be to overlook his scintillatingly erotic banter and leave the attention to the investigators looking into the matter. Sadly for McCartney, though, it appears the public’s willingness to ignore his transgressions evaporated with his claim that the email above – and the rest of his sexually-charged exchange – were not personal but, rather, part of an elaborate scheme to uncover corruption in Madison County.

“In order to catch a traitor, you have to be a traitor,” McCartney told a local newspaper during an interview about the emails. In that same interview, McCartney reportedly could not say exactly when he devised his plan and enlisted the help of the female assessor to which the emails were sent, but described the emails as, “a risk I was willing to take for the taxpayers.”

If only all public servants could be so selfless…

These emails and others reportedly violating policies about electronic campaigning are now being reviewed as part of an independent probe. No, not the same type of probe that McCartney was doing. This is a whole different kind of probe…

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