Giving advice in an interview last January, Eliot Spitzer, CNN pundit, ex-governor and legendary connoisseur of fancy prostitutes, said, ‘I would say to other people who want to get involved in (politics), there are temptations; there are risks — be smarter than I was.’

This week’s sex scandal shows that at least one New York politician lacks the mental capacity to register Spitzer’s advice: Republican Rep. Christopher Lee, whose district covers the suburbs north of Buffalo and west of Rochester, resigned Feb. 9, hours after Gawker broke the story of his intent to cheat.

Rather than spend thousands of dollars on liaisons, he allegedly dated via Craigslist personal ads, neglecting to even use a pseudonym or separate e-mail account for his philandering. The damning evidence was a Myspace-era self-portrait, buffed out and shirtless, sent to a 34-year-old single mom to prove the congressional portrait he had shared previously wasn’t a J.C. Penney ad. The story is hilarious in its own right, but it does raise serious questions about the intelligence of elected officials. When a representative can’t even step out on his wife intelligently, he certainly can’t be expected to make informed legislative decisions.

Here’s a recent quote from the analogous Craigslist personals section in Syracuse: ‘Looking for someone that can except me for whom I am. The type of person I am is one that is caring, nurturing, respectful, kind hearted yes i ware it on my sheeve.’ The ads on the D.C. site tend to be a little more intelligent, but the point remains — if you’re really a ‘very fit fun classy guy,’ have the sense to set your bar for potential mistresses a little higher and use a less public space. The game of politics hinges on discretion, and lacking it rightly earns disqualification.

Much of the Internet-comment hubbub about Lee’s scandal has to do with the inconsistency inherent in his support of legislating others’ sex lives with the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy while stepping out on his wife. This line of argument is completely incoherent. The evidence does not clearly confirm Lee even did anything illegal enough to disqualify him from office. He made no perjurious claims about the nature of fellatio, didn’t spend state funds on plane tickets for liaisons and didn’t violate sexual abuse statues by playing ‘grab ass’ in his office.

Even if Lee had been blown by an intern or prostitute, his personal morals don’t necessarily conflict with his legislative competence. Sharp philandering skills might even be a good reason to elect someone to office — it’s tough to cheat well as a public figure. Spitzer had to leave office because of a touch of bad luck when his telephone number turned up in an FBI wiretap on the relatively discreet and well-organized prostitution ring he patronized. Far from bad luck, Lee’s downfall was the result of incredible stupidity, and this is why it rightly cost him his career.

Lee isn’t a bad-looking guy, judging from his photo. He could easily cruise at Georgetown bars for cute coeds and flex for them in a real-life bathroom. Then he might not have to give out his real name or e-mail address or release a shirtless photo into the inerasable, permanent publicity of the Internet. Aspiring politicians, heed Spitzer’s advice: Fool around if you must, but be smart about it. Being smarter than Spitzer might be tough, but as voters we should expect more intelligence than the average 14-year-old on Myspace.

Scott Collison is a senior philosophy and physics major. His columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at smcollis@syr.edu.