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Bill Kelly: Politicians are judged differently and they should be

Former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown leaves Queen's Park after a press conference in Toronto on Wednesday, January 24, 2018. The Canadian Press/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

There’s a lot of skepticism about the allegations against former PC leader Patrick Brown and surprisingly, there’s some sympathy for him in many social media posts because his career is ruined even before guilt or innocence is determined in a court of law.

They say that Brown has been convicted in the court of public opinion, that politicians and public figures are judged differently.

Fact is, the rules are different for public officials, but they all knew that from the beginning.

This isn’t about breaching the criminal code, it’s about character and bad judgment.

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Patrick Brown or former federal cabinet minister Kent Hehr or anyone else who enters politics knows full well that their lives — past and present — will be under a microscope.

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Politicians constantly use the court of public opinion to advance their agenda and to attack their opponents with little regard for the concept of guilt or innocence and if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.

Insiders tell me that there has been chatter for years about questionable behaviour by Brown and Hehr, so, if political careers have been ruined, don’t blame the accusers.

Focus your anger on the men who abuse their status and power, and focus your sympathy toward the countless women and young girls whose lives have forever been altered by this epidemic of sexual impropriety.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News

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