Joshua James Duggar the boy fondled people. Joshua James Duggar the man kept that a secret. Then he accepted a high-profile stone-throwing job in Washington and took his glass house with him.
News that this oldest son of a TV celebrity family had inappropriately touched others came out last week. None of the victims in those 2002 and 2003 misdeeds have anything to be ashamed of, but so far they choose not to come forward. That's their right.
Duggar was barely 15 years old when his parents got him out of town for three months. Then they let him come home. That was their right. I don't believe the Duggars would have allowed their son to stay if he had offended again. Duggars forgive but they're not famous for a lax attitude to ongoing bad behavior, to say the least.
In a bizarre turn, the family even reported the matter to a state police corporal who was well-respected at the time. That corporal did nothing. That policeman was convicted of child pornography charges four years later. By the time responsible authorities found out, the statute of limitations had run on any possible charges in the Duggar case.
That's where this story might have ended. Then the family's TV fame and political connections led to an offer to Joshua of a lobbying job for the highly conservative Family Research Council. He started work in Washington, D.C., in June 2013.
Let's imagine that job interview. "Oh, by the way, I have this huge secret in my past but I was just a kid. I fondled people when I was 14. My parents and the victims were interviewed by police in 2006. It's all in a file." Then he gets the job.
I don't think that's how things went. If I'm wrong, Josh Duggar or the Family Council can call me. I left them both my number.
So forgive the boy if you want, although I'd argue that's the sole prerogative of the victims. The man -- who recklessly risked his victims' privacy, his family's reputation, the embarrassment of his employers and a setback to the principles he represented -- knew what he was doing.
Josh never was just the eldest son. He was the eager one, the one who often went with his father during legislative sessions. He was clearly bitten by the political bug when he was still a kid. Apparently, he refused to give those ambitions up. I suspect he would have run for office by now if it wasn't for the big secret.
I went to see Duggar in 2007. The case name and number for a sealed court file fell into our hands, but that and rumors were all we had. I realized Duggar was 18 by then, so the next day I drove to the car lot where he worked as a partner with his grandfather. More than seven years later, I remember what we said. We exchanged greetings and pleasantries, then stepped inside his office where he sat at his desk.
"So what's up?"
"Josh, what is CV 07-921?"
Without a flinch or even an instant of hesitation, Duggar looked right at me and said "You'll have to ask my dad about that."
"Josh, you've passed 18. You're a legally responsible adult. You don't have to have your dad answer for you any more."
"I know, but you'll have to talk to my dad."
He wasn't visibly nervous in the least. He didn't waiver. He wasn't surprised. He knew what to do.
I thanked him and left. His dad had no comment either when I reached him by telephone that night. In the end, all we had at the paper was a case number, Josh Duggar's name and no proof of what his lawsuit with the Arkansas Department of Human Services was all about. Unwilling to print rumors even about the worst-kept secret in Springdale, we left it at that.
A piece of paper with that case number remained in a basket full of bills in my home for more than seven years. I knew someday I might need it again. When Joshua Duggar took the Family Council job, I checked the basket to make sure that paper was still there. I didn't think Duggar's big secret would take as long to come out in Washington as it did.
Sometimes, the only way to make something worse is to act like it never happened. That's the lesson here.
Commentary on 05/30/2015