What’s in a gate?
Watergate.
Isn’t that a funny word?
How did a word, derived from a 1970s political scandal, which had only been the name of a place in Washington, D.C., become so integrally woven into the fabric of the American lexicon? (ADMISSION: Midway through that sentence, I had no idea how it would end.)
Let me try this again.
The word “Watergate” meant little to most Americans before burglars broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee on June 17, 1972.
Before that burglary, Watergate had merely been a sprawling, 10-acre, six-building office apartment and hotel complex in an upscale area of our nation’s capital.
All the president’s men, with their seedy attempts to elevate Richard Nixon, changed that forever.
Curiously, since Watergate, any event that may hint at scandal will have the word “gate” appended to it.
I didn’t know how many times there have been “gates” until I did a little research on the subject. (Research means I took a look at Wikipedia’s “List of gate scandals and controversies” page.)
Admittedly, Wikipedia isn’t always a great place to perform serious research. But this is hardly research I’d call “serious.” So, I think I’m on firm ground here.
Did you know there have been three “Troopergates?” There was one involving state troopers and then-governor Bill Clinton in 1994; another one involved New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007, and the third “Troopergate,” was in 2008. That involved Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
There’ve been dozens of mini scandals given the unofficial “gate” designation over the years.
Some “gates” when there is a “gate” were outside of public service.
There have been three sports-related “Spygates.” One dealt with Formula One racing in 2007; another one famously involved the Houston Astros allegedly stealing signs in 2017; and even more famously, when New England Patriots were caught videotaping the practice of an opponent in 2007 – that, too, was called “Spygate.”
The Patriots were actually involved in two “gate” scandals.
Not only “Spygate,” but in 2015, the NFL investigated a report that the footballs that were used in an AFC Championship game had been deflated. The result of “Deflategate” was that Patriot quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for four games. And the team was fined $1 million.
Gate-naming has somehow become international over the years.
There is an ongoing political scandal in Great Britain known as “Partygate.” In 2021, during the height of the pandemic, while most folks in England were locked down, some members of the Conservative Party decided to meet and have parties.
That led to the demise of Boris Johnson as prime minister. And more recently he’s resigned from Parliament altogether.
In 2022, they even had a “Partygate” scandal in Hong Kong. And for nearly the same reason as the “Partygate” in England. In Hong Kong, it involved a birthday party.
The United States may have been the birthplace of a scandal called “Watergate.” But it’s not the only place to have had a “Watergate” scandal.
There’s the 2022 “Greek Watergate,” in which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had the mobile phones of his political opponents tapped. The term “Greek Watergate” was used because it mirrored the kinds of political skullduggery of the 1972 Watergate in the United States.
Australia had its Watergate, too.
Except, unlike the Greek Watergate, and the original American Watergate, the Australian Watergate actually had something to do with water. Imagine that?
Australia’s Watergate started in 2019 and continues as part of a controversy involving a local water buyback program.
Over in India in 2012, they had something called, get ready for it, “Porngate.” It appears that members of the Indian legislature were forced out of their jobs because they were accused of watching pornography while the government was in session.
I could write a book about all of these “gates.”
There has been a “Donutgate,” an “Envelopegate,” a “Nanygate,” two “Pizzagates,” a “Bridgegate,” and three “Strippergates” – one in Seattle, another one in Canada, and one in Israel.
You never know when the next scandal will get a “gate.”
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.