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After a recent Washington Post profile of second lady Karen Pence noted that her husband never eats meals alone with other women or attends events where alcohol is served without her, ravenous liberals used that detail to smear Vice President Mike Pence as a sexist who reduces women to sexual temptresses and stalls their professional advancement. This week, however, Pence's policy received some unintentional backup from an unlikely source former Gov. Robert Bentley, R-Ala.

In a dramatic conclusion to the made-for-television sex scandal involving the governor and his senior political advisor, Bentley resigned on Monday and reported directly to the Montgomery County Jail where he is currently serving a 30-day sentence. Tracing Bentley's career-ending relationship with adviser Rebekah Mason to its origins, reports indicate that increasing occasions where the two spent time alone was an early signal to observers they were engaged in extramarital relations, or moving in that direction at least.

A report in Al.com claims the governor's wife, Dianne Bentley, began "having concerns about the amount of time her husband" spent with Mason in 2013, noting Mason "frequently [texted] her boss and [was] seen in close conversations" with him. Staffers also reported that Bentley and Mason were "often behind closed doors."

According to an ABC interview with Jason Zengerle, a GQ writer who published an investigative report on the affair last summer, sources close to the governor said they would "walk into a room where the governor and Rebekah Mason were together and both the governor and Mason would be startled as if they were doing something they didn't want other people to see."

Nobody knows exactly when or how the affair began, but, as Al.com reported, Dianne Bentley started noticing changes in her husband in 2013, around the time Mason was selected to run communications for Bentley's re-election campaign and the two started "spending more time together." Again, it is not clear if meals the two shared, or mutual attendance at alcohol-fueled events, ultimately lead to the affair the only occasions Pence's policy actually prevents.

But, of course, if Bentley had committed to refraining from increased one-on-one time with staffers of the opposite sex, he likely would not be behind bars today.

That goes for Mason, as well.

To be clear, people of the opposite sex need to be able to spend time alone together professionally, and it is important for men to respect women enough to make that possible without sexualizing the circumstances. Any restrictions on those interactions should probably apply to working people of both sexes in a marriage as well. (We do not know if the Pence's rule also applies to Karen.)

This is not to say the Pence policy is right for every marriage, but in politics, where rising powers such as Bentley and Pence work odd hours, often with female staffers, the temptations are unique.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Trump on Thursday declined to answer a direct question from a reporter as to whether he ordered the strike.

04/14/17 11:20 AM

It is not unreasonable, then, to erect unique boundaries either.

Bentley's affair is a case study in how the dynamics of political life can combine to form a perfect storm of variables that swirls around even the happiest of marriages, claiming victims unprepared for the impact.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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What disgraced Gov. Robert Bentley could have learned from Mike Pence - Washington Examiner