This is the "fun" area.  Yes, I have lighter moments too.  This is where voters can, to a limited extent, know me better.  

 

The limitation is a principled one: personal and political deserve a separation.  Office-holders and candidates for public office do not deserve omni-probing.  It reduces dignity, and keeps good people from running. 

 

Thus, I will NOT share everything.  My Facebook Page is deliberately curtailed.  (That's in part because except for snowboarding and ice hockey, my private life is not that exciting.)  It's also because almost anyone in this state can meet me in person - outside concerts, at fairs, playing softball, ice skating, or just plain on an old-fashioned conference call - we do these every week!.  You don't need news reports or tabloids to collect a sense of Mark Stewart Greenstein - join me directly!

 

As Governor, I will grant the same access.  Two days a week, likely Sundays and Wednesdays, I'm the people's governor; four days a week, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, I become an administrator and a wonk.  Saturdays are truly personal, and I would resent intrusions.  

 

Sure, multiple allegations of public malfeasance demand scrutiny of officials.  For the non-public, I actually believe in "peer ratings" for goodness (and would apply peer ratings in my selection of appointees). Even non-public peer-ing should have a cordon - let people have dignified space, such as my Four Bs: Barrooms, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, and Boardrooms, where all speech and all activity is sacrosanct.  Let officials and candidates choose to have other sacrosanct areas or times, when they wish to not be on record, not be photographed, and not be reported upon.  For some candidates that would be their time in church.  For others it might be their time at work.  For others it's their time with their children.  For all, it should be their time with their spouse, unless they choose to make their spouse a public figure.  For me, it's my time snowboarding - I better not see a reporter asking for me on the slopes of Stowe.  Stay away, or you and your paper will never get an exclusive.

 

Public/private separation dignifies our work in BOTH areas.  An imperfect household, a poorly-functioning private business, or a hypocritical parishioner says nothing relevant about a person's public leadership abilities.    Lincoln fell short on all three private realms above, but is lauded as one of our great Presidents.   We're indebted to Founder Thomas Jefferson, even though he was at times a private personal wreck.   Conversely, what an official or a candidate may say on the campaign trail should not impugn his fitness at work or in the home.  I will surely say some things that are politically at odds with some of my clients. But clients can know that still have the educator who will held their kids ascend.  I will surely say some things that my teammates disagree with politically.  But can know they still have the same Mark Stewart Greenstein (on the field it's "Greenie") behind the plate or defending the goal.