The Christian Conservative Sword Falls On Tom Gallagher

Tom Gallagher wanted to live by the social conservative sword. He will now have to fall on it. Michael Fechter of the Tampa Tribune did some digging and found Gallagher's ex-wife Ann Louise filed for divorce after she caught him having an affair. She filed a restraining order after Gallagher broke into the house several times.

Ann Louise told the Trib of how power curropted her husband.

Life changed when Gallagher got into politics, Louise said in an interview. While she supported his 1974 campaign for a state House seat from Miami, she said she saw a transformation in her husband.

"They get such an ego trip and their personality changes," she said. "There were all these female groupies up in Tallahassee. I went up there and I saw what was going on and I didn't care for it."

On one trip to Tallahassee, Louise said her father-in-law rather than Gallagher picked her up. Charles Gallagher Jr. first told her his son was sailing but later disclosed Tom's relationship with a married woman who worked at the Capitol.

She and her father-in-law were close, she said, and when he told her he had to pick up the other woman at the airport, Louise said she was going with him.

"I invited her for coffee and she said OK. I told her she could have him and she said OK. I felt I had been a real patsy. Enough was enough."

I don't think what happened in 1979 should play into whether or not a candidate is qualified. What does bother me is that Gallagher is running a Christian conservative campaign and supporting social policies that even he can't live by. Gallagher and his handlers will look at it as good politics.

The same politics effects the lives of Floridians. School Vouchers have not changed the fact that Florida's education system is a disgrace. Abstinence-only sex education does not prevent teen pregnancy or STDs. These policies are dangerous to the welfare of citizens. Most Republican politicians advise their own children to practice safe sex. (Unless you actually believe Jenna and Barbara Bush are abstaining.) Gallagher getting busted shows the hypocricy behind the Christian consefvative politics.

I want politicians to set pllicies based on solving problems. I don't care what God they worship or who they sleep with.