In June 2011, the media preoccupied itself with its latest political scandal—Anthony Weiner, former representative of New York’s 9th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, had (as every news source made sure to joke) exposed too much wiener. After accidently tweeting a picture of his crotch to his followers, Weiner admitted to sending licentious photographs and messages to a number of women. He resigned from his congressional post, leaving the lectern to shouts of “Bye, bye, pervert!”

You can imagine my surprise on Wednesday, April 10 when he told the New York Times that he’s considering running for mayor. “To some degree,” he reflected, “I do want to say to [the people of New York], ‘Give me another chance.’”

I’m hesitant to believe that New York’s vicious journalistic atmosphere will give Weiner another chance. When potential voters get a good look at a few of those pictures, they’ll turn the other way.

But let’s imagine that Weiner enters the race. Who’s he up against? Perhaps the strongest Democratic opposition comes from the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn. Known for her skillful budgetary negotiations with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Quinn redirected funds to firehouses and educational facilities to avoid layoffs. As mayor, Quinn would work to build 80,000 more affordable housing units in the city. As my second choice, I’d name Bill de Blasio, New York City Public Advocate. De Blasio also disagrees with Bloomberg’s policies on education, and if elected, de Blasio would fund a universal pre-kindergarten program with a tax on New York’s wealthiest (those who make $500,000 or more). Both Quinn and de Blasio have relatively typical Democratic positions and as erroneous as I think they are, they won’t destroy the city. Weiner, on the other hand, is not just a sexter—he maintains a platform that is absolutely preposterous.

As congressman, Weiner championed some of the strangest political causes.  About a week before the sexting scandal exploded, Weiner sat down with the New York Times to complain about parking tickets. However, he wasn’t talking about his own—apparently over the last two decades, U.N. Diplomats from around the world have parked illegally in New York and racked up a total of $18 million dollars in unpaid parking tickets. Weiner’s decision to take on a cause like this doesn’t make sense—foreign relations representatives are the ones responsible for persuading other countries to pay for their diplomats’ mistakes, not congressmen.

Prior to the parking ticket situation, Weiner supported a bill in 2009 to make Medicare available to everyone, regardless of age. However, Medicare already has a partner to serve the poor—Medicaid. These providers work well together to create a safety net for the most vulnerable among us but Weiner wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to know why everyone can’t enjoy the benefits of Medicare. The answer comes from the numbers: on average, each senior citizen in the US receives $400,000 in Medicare benefits. Our federal budget cannot expand to pay that kind of money to people who are young enough to work and don’t qualify for Medicaid.

If Weiner already ignores the federal deficit, I shudder to think how frivolously Weiner would waste New Yorkers’ hard-earned dollars as mayor. Compared to his Democratic rivals, Weiner is a radical. That scares me more than his libido does.

The bottom line: Weiner’s sexting isn’t the main reason to reject his platform. After all, sexual scandals have never stopped determined politicians before. Grover Cleveland, United States President from 1885–1889, took a four-year break before serving a second term in office. In the interim, he told the world that he had fathered and paid child support for an illegitimate child. More salaciously, in 1998 Newt Gingrich spearheaded Bill Clinton’s impeachment while cheating on his second wife with his intern. He apologized, resigned from the House, and then later ran in the 2011 Republican primary. Many politicians have done unethical things, but what matters is whether their personal lapses affect the decisions they make on our behalf. That’s why responsible voters should look at platforms and career histories, not Twitter feeds.