jim360 - "I don't get why this still persists, if true."
The sort of ego and arrogance that drives some individuals to enter politics carries on dictating their behaviour when they get into a position where they can abuse their status.
I have opined elsewhere that there are some people who are unsuitable for occupations where they are accorded more reverence and deference than is good for them - doctors, priests, politicians are just three of them.
These people live a life where others defer to them to the point where they think that not only can they behave exactly as they please, unfettered by the rules and morals that govern the rest of us, but that it is actually their duty so to do.
That is why there is genuine bafflement when such individuals are found to be acting in a manner that the resit of society regards as illegal, immoral, or both.
And here we go again.