Politicians and Journalists In Their Underwear

Politicians and journalists share a few things in common including low popularity coupled with high standards of ethics and trying to make nice with people for a few votes or more readers.

Taking your clothes off in front of people is also on that list. Except one is trying to lead the polls while the other is dancing around one.

Neither the reporter or politician have taken the advice of the late Jermaine Stewart, "We don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time."

Well, let's start with the politician first. Don't worry. It's not Anthony Weiner.

In Palm Harbor, and one pantless photos of himself showing off his body to show off his weight loss dropping 50 pounds, down to 160 pounds. He kept his underwear on though. Really, really um, form fitting, black briefs. The other one taken in what appears to be a public restroom is fully clothed. Still not sure why anyone would be brave enough to whip out a camera phone in a men's room. But I digress.

The photos were sent to the Tampa Bay Times politics blog The Buzz and he gave the paper permission to publish the photos along with his response, saying that he has battled weight issues like many diabetics.

Nehr believes someone brought attention to the photos because they have a "problem with my politics" and "is trying to use them in a way to hurt my campaign."

It is admirable to show off weight loss, especially considering how diabetes can effect weight fluctuation for some. However, it is quite brave to snap a photo in your skivvies to give people the full effect. 

Which leaves us to the reporter who by now you guess is the stripper. And she's proud of it. 

Sarah Tressler, 30, wrote high society stories for the Houston Chronicle as a full-time staff reporter and revealed in a blog post that she spends her nights working hard for the money stripping at a local club, the Houston Press reported. Technically she was not employed as a stripper, as Tressler told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that in Houston strippers are independent contractors and is considered a service job.

She was fired on the grounds that her employment as a stripper created a conflict of interest, didn't list it on her application and journalists are held to a high standard. Tressler filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint and has attorney Gloria Allred representing her too, New York magazine reports.

Allred argued on her behalf, as seen in the video above, that men have failed to list service industry jobs on their applications and were not dismissed.

Though none of the stories focued on what the effects were on her part-time employment as an instructor at University of Houston. Tressler was just not some reporter who came along with little training. She earned a master's in journalism from New York University.  

Journalism is never sexy, but I give her this might be the closest to it using dirty talk as "undisclosed source" and "Open Meetings Laws" and "nut graph."

As part of her campaign to win her job back, or at least, make up for lost wages, she told the Las Vegas newspape that she's stopping in Tampa as part of a national tour to show her wares. 

The only event she has posted on her website, diaryofanagrystripper.com, lists a gig in Las Vegas, so no word on if she'll be here during the Republican National Convention, as area strip clubs are ramping up their offerings and enticement to politicians in town both in person and through virtual clubs, as TampaBay.com reports.

If she does, somewhere George Constanza will be going insane with how these worlds are colliding.

What can we take from this? Clifford Pugh of CultureMap Houston wrote this about Tressler: "shut up on the web."

"It also raises some issues about privacy and a stern warning to anyone under 30 — You don't have to detail every aspect of your life on the web," Pugh writes.

With that,

• Tweeting Weightloss Photos: 1

• Journalist Blogging About Being A Stripper: 0

• Readers Rolling Their Eyes: You. 

This editor is keeping his clothes on. You're welcome.