Letterman and Ensign: Office Sex and Blackmail Allegations
Bonnie Goldstein
Woman Up Editor
Posted:
10/5/09
During the 1990s I worked for three years as a staff investigator in the U.S. Senate and then worked six years as a producer at a network TV magazine show. Despite what you might think from recent news stories about Sen. John Ensign or late-night comic David Letterman, blackmail was not the norm at either of my high-profile workplaces.Both employment locations were high-stress environments filled with talented, intelligent people at the top of their field. Long work days and weekends were typical. At both venues the majority of my young and attractive colleagues worked tirelessly in support of older and more powerful principals. When I moved to television from Capitol Hill, senators with gavels were replaced by stars behind anchor desks, and men with flag pins were swapped for men in makeup, but retinues surrounded the big shots at both jobs. Some say power is an aphrodisiac. I can't say it turned me on, but I definitely saw how fame and authority can feed those who encircle it.
Perhaps enhanced by the intensity of our jobs, office romances were not unusual in either professional setting. In the sausage factory of legislative policy and oversight there is something very sexy about a quick-thinking and funny co-worker who admires your ability to parse welfare reform. Colleagues became couples and inter-staff marriages were commonplace. There were also, occasionally, discreet office romances among friends whose marriages were left at home. Though inadvisable, these things happen.
When I moved to TV, I noticed many of my fellow producers were particularly open to thrills, risks and road sex. In the trenches of collaboration and impossible deadlines, romantic moments are mixed in with the victory of great tracking shots, killer interviews and enviable "gets." Though some of these folks were married to people I'd only met at office Christmas parties, it never occurred to me to judge co-worker couples for what they did "off-camera." History has shown us, consenting adults can and will do what they want with each other.
Which brings us back to the subject of blackmail. Nevada Republican John Ensign allowed Doug Hampton, his former chief of staff, and his lover's husband, to allegedly shake him down for money, position and clients. This summer, when Hampton upped the ante by writing Fox News about Ensign's secret sex life, the senator held an awkward press conference and sorta confessed (though not soon enough, it seems, to save his political skin).
In Letterman's case, the a CBS producer for "48 Hours," Joe Halderman, is charged with threatening to reveal embarrassing, albeit consensual, sexual escapades the "Late Night" host had with women who worked on his program. Letterman went to the police, participated in a sting and then awkwardly announced his "terrible" behavior on his show. Case closed. Everybody back to work and please, people, keep your sex life out of the office.