I watched Antonio Villaraigosa do a dance that has alas become all too familiar. After it was revealed that the mayor of Los Angeles had been involved in an extra marital affair, he held a news conference to “take full responsibility for his actions,” reaffirm his commitment to the people of Los Angeles and then suggested this was a private matter having nothing to do with his public life. Ironically enough, one of Villaraigosa’s first acts as mayor was to have his entire staff sign an ethics pledge.

Villaraigosa is not the first public figure to cheat on his wife. What distresses is that the esteem in which we hold our public servants has fallen so far that increasingly such revelations are greeted with a yawn and a rather disinterested shrug of the shoulders. Still others will declare that we judge our public representatives solely on the work they do.

I wonder, however, if the personal behavior of our public officials is truly a private matter to be overlooked by a blushing public or is it an indicator of the true character of the man? To the extent that our public policy intersects with questions of morality, is it unreasonable that we look with curiosity on the character of our political representatives?

These questions are working their way into the national dialogue largely because another mayor -- or former mayor -- is currently the leading contender for the Republican nomination for president.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani seems ready made for Republican voters looking for a candidate tough enough to fight the war on terror and bold enough to stand up to liberals in congress. During his tenure as mayor of New York, Giuliani was a tough administrator credited with cleaning up the city. He gained world wide attention as the man that helped New York stand tall in the aftermath of the murders of 9/11/01. However, Giuliani has been married three times and is estranged from his two children. A very public affair during his last term in office led to an equally public and especially nasty divorce to his second wife Donna Hanover.

The recent urging by the Reverend James Dobson of Focus on the Family that Christians ought not sacrifice their values for the pragmatism of winning an election has as much to do with the baggage of Giuliani’s personal life as it does his moderate stance on the issue of abortion.

In America we do not anoint royalty infallible, but public servants with “servants” being the operative word. Our elected officials serve at the pleasure of the people. We rightly expect that those entrusted with the nation’s security and purse strings will exercise their obligations with prudence and clarity. It is not scandal mongering that sparks our interest in the private lives of public servants but the fact that public indiscretion calls into question one’s decision making skills. Or at least it should.

Trust is essential to public service. In truth though, if a man would break a sacred vow he makes to the mother of his children, why should we believe for one moment that he holds the promises he made to nameless faceless citizens in any higher esteem. I struggle with the idea that any man bent on fulfilling his own personal desires, even at the expense of the best interests of his children, can be trusted to oversee the interests of the general public.

As the campaign continues, Giuliani and the other presidential hopefuls will be doing the values two-step: taking responsibility while announcing their personal lives off limits. It is a shame that we have become so jaded that rather than demand honor in all things from those that serve the public trust, we expect lies and deceit and that to suggest that men ought to be bound by their words is to be thought of as naïve or worse a walking anachronism.

Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like A White Boy” available wherever books are sold.