It’s always hard to say what makes certain news stories hold seemingly everlasting public interest. For nearly a month, the sex lives of Sarasota’s most prominent power couple seized headlines and spurred media investigations and revelations.

Maybe we don’t have an O.J. Simpson-style media circus parked outside Christian and Bridget Ziegler’s home. But it’s unclear when interest in the pair’s future will wind down. Why so much attention around this never-ending walk of atonement? Affairs aren’t new to politics, nor is hypocrisy. But the sheer novelty of this shame-fest feeds the appetite for schadenfreude held by an insatiable public.

This story broke with the words “ménage à trois” in a website headline. If we’re honest, that detail was always more sensational than even the accusation of rape that set off a criminal investigation of Christian Ziegler. Sure, powerful men have cheated on their wives before, but the term adultery doesn’t even easily fit here. The admission by all parties that Bridget and Christian Ziegler engaged in a consensual threesome with a Sarasota woman at least once puts this situation in a rare category.

When I googled “famous throuples” and “famous threesomes” (and weeded out fan fic), the only memorable headline I found involved Charlie Sheen, back from his tiger blood days living with two actresses whom I long ago had forgotten the names — though I did learn something I never knew about Tilda Swinton.

But there’s also the sheer duplicity. The Zieglers aren’t famous for business ventures of championing tax cuts, but for strident social conservatism. Just check the famous photo of Bridget Ziegler stridently wearing an anti-transgender T-shirt with the words “Real woman aren’t men.”

Moms For Liberty, a group Ziegler co-founded even if she did little with its afterward, became most famous for pushing books with LGBTQ characters off shelves. The revelation she might be engaging in a same-sex encounter, even just the one time she admitted to with police, was enough to draw fire. At a School Board meeting last week, attacks would be delivered to her face for hours as people asked a woman not accused of any crime to resign.

“Bridget Ziegler does not deserve to lose her job because she may be queer,” said Ida Smith of Women's Voices of Southwest Florida. “She should lose it because she's insincere."

But truthfully, this isn’t just about explicitly bigoted positions held by the Zieglers. Both politicians spent years presenting their suburban life raising three daughters as the great American model, rushing from political gatherings to children’s softball games. Now we learn evening children’s activities were supposed to be preceded by afternoon escapades.

Christian Ziegler has not so subtly hinted in political circles that he should be able to weather a sex scandal is the age of Donald Trump. This is a world where Matt Gaetz, less than two years after accusations of sex trafficking a minor, remains popular in Florida’s most conservative House district.

But numerous Republican operatives tell me he can’t easily play the part of the persecuted. Trump never presented himself as the picture of the perfect conservative family. Gaetz, who remained single throughout his 30s, always seemed as much libertine as libertarian. During his time under media scrutiny, the Congressman actually released statements making clear he got laid in high school and was “not a monk.”

But the Zieglers pretended to be Ward and June Cleaver when they weren’t scheduling trysts with a drunken Kelly Bundy. For that reason, the controversy continued to swirl even as evidence made criminal prosecution less likely.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA. 

Ringling College of Art and Design on Wednesday, Nov. 29, announced the public launch of our comprehensive fundraising campaign: Catalyst for Creativity. Since 2018, the College has been in the silent phase of the campaign and has raised over $128 million of a total $175 million goal. Pretty incredible. 

Over the last five years, Ringling College has accomplished so much. We opened the Sarasota Art Museum or Ringling College in 2019, which is truly an exceptional and world-class contemporary art museum for the community and our students, offering countless events and educational programming. We established more than 50 endowed scholarships totaling millions of dollars for deserving students who otherwise could not afford to attend college. We launched two new academic majors—Virtual Reality Development (in 2018) and Entertainment Design (in 2019). And, this year, we reached our highest enrollment of all time, with 1,722 students. As a result, we have considered ourselves very fortunate because Ringling College continues to thrive. 

What I just briefly described are only a very few of the many milestones that signify that Ringling College is on its way to achieving its vision: to be the preeminent art and design college in the world. But we still have some work to do, which is why we decided it was the perfect time to publicly share the Catalyst for Creativity campaign goals with our wider community.

In order to prepare our graduates for an ever-expanding global and creative economy, we know it is our responsibility to invest heavily in academic innovation and creative thinking. Thus, our Catalyst for Creativity campaign encompasses three essential priorities, all sharing equal importance and weight: Building Creativity, Igniting Creativity, and Connecting Creativity. 

Building Creativity refers to the expansion and upkeep of state-of-the-art facilities and technology on campus. One building in particular, which we are currently calling the Signature Academic Building, will be located on the corner of North Tamiami Trail and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way—the entrance to Ringling College’s campus. This unmistakable iconic facility will serve as an entry point to the College and as a signifier for visitors that they have entered the cultural hub that is Sarasota. It will include the first-ever Campus Welcome Center for prospective students, families, and visitors. It will house four of the College’s high-tech majors and also offer a flexible event space available for our creative community. Located near the first-floor entrance will be the new Richard and Barbara Basch Gallery, featuring a rotating selection of the 300 unique pieces created by internationally celebrated glass masters. Plans for the building have been approved, and construction is slated to begin as early as fall 2024. 

Igniting Creativity is all about student and faculty support. Integral to Ringling College’s mission is attracting diverse students and faculty members who possess an array of perspectives, experience, and talent that is essential to the vibrancy of Ringling College. Strategic and sustained outreach and ongoing funding in the form of scholarships are required to support students through the entirety of their college years. This pillar also seeks funding to assist faculty, provide funding for academic departments, as well as fund faculty and staff professional development. Key investment components include student scholarships, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming and initiatives, endowed department head positions, and a new Center for Teaching Excellence. 

The Connecting Creativity facet of the campaign is focused on engaging our local community with Ringling College. Sarasota has long been a place for culture and the arts to flourish, attracting some of the world’s most exciting international artists, thought leaders, and authors to share their work and perspectives. Ringling College is a major force in that effort. Through more than 100 programs offered annually, the College provides opportunities for students, and for roughly 100,000 local residents and visitors from around the globe to gather, learn, and experience the power of creativity. 

I believe we have something truly unique at Ringling College. For many years now we have had the privilege of being an institution that has helped to provide creative resources for this community and helped shape it into what it is today. As a corollary, it’s the people in this community who have, in turn, been instrumental in our sustained growth and success.

Ringling College’s mission is to educate our students, our community and the world to understand art and creativity as essential dimensions to life. I have always said that creativity should be tangible and produce real and actual results. Meeting this campaign goal will help us continue to spark creativity in our students, community, and beyond for decades to come.

Dr. Larry Thompson is president of Ringling College of Art & Design. 

Photos courtesy Ringling College.