Mosley sex scandal

If you have been following F1 motorsport, you would know that there is a huge controversy currently in progress surrounding Max Mosley, the current head of FIA. If you do a quick search on Google, you will find loads of articles regarding this.

In brief, The News of the World (a UK tabloid) recently reported that Mosley took part in a "Nazi-style orgy in a torture dungeon". Apparently, Mosley hired five prostitutes to engage in a sadomasochistic orgy of whipping and sex. Since the scandal broke, there have been numerous calls for Mosley to step down from his position as president of FIA.

Mosley is claiming that his actions had no Nazi connotations (ie he isn't denying the sadomasochistic orgy part). Furthermore, his actions were "harmless and completely legal" and as such, it should have no effect on his work. In other words, he doesn't think that he should get the sack.

Which brings up an interesting point. If his actions are legal, then should he lose his job over this sex scandal?

On one hand, I can sympathise with the view that his private life should remain private. In the case of Mosley, I don't see any link between his job and prostitution. Contrast this with the recent sex scandal of Eliot Spitzer. Eliot Spitzer was the New York Governor who was linked with a prostitution ring despite aggressively and publicly prosecuting prostitution rings during his stint as Attorney General and using ethics as his platform for office. In the case of Spitzer, his hypocrisy means I have little sympathy for him. However, as I said above, in the case of Mosley, I don't see any link between his job and prostitution.

On the other hand, Mosley's job is high profile. He has to have known in advance that he needed to act as a role model. In particular, according to this article, an officer of the FIA can be sacked if "by words, deeds or writings they inflict moral injury and loss on the FIA" (its the 3rd bullet point in the black section titled "Max Mosley - Decision Day"). As president of the FIA, Mosley must have known about this rule. And considering the massive outpouring of moral condemnation on his actions and the very real possibility of financial loss, this seems like quite an easy claim to make.

I guess at this point, it becomes a question of whether the FIA want to keep Mosley or not.