Why does Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) want to investigate professional football?

More specifically, he wants to investigate the “spy case” of the New England Patriots using videotape to record New York Jets team signals during a football game.

And why did Senator Specter decide to announce that he may investigate the “spy case” just two days before Super Bowl XLII?

Sometimes politicians do funny things. More than sometimes, politicians do stupid things.

Senator Specter seems to have done the latter.

Specter’s pronouncement just two days before Super Bowl Sunday may be a distraction for many football fans.But there is more.

Consider this: Sen. Specter is a political veteran. He knows quite well how to get publicity.

When an incumbent is up for re-election, especially during a presidential election year when attention is hard to come by during the primary season, this sports spy case is an opportunity to get one’s name out there.

After all, Pennsylvanians – including football fans – will decide later this year whether Specter will stay in the U.S. Senate or move on to a new career. Specter knows his comments to the media are likely to play well with Eagles and Steelers fans.

He also knows that Pennsylvania has not been favorable to Republican candidates for governor, president or in the last U.S. Senate contest when Keystone State voters replaced conservative Rick Santorum with liberal Bob Casey.

In Specter’s previous campaign, Santorum aided him with his visible support. Despite this, in Santorum’s last campaign, Specter did little to return the favor.

He demonstratively puts his own political survival before what is good for others in his party or often the country.

Most Pennsylvanians reading this column know this about Sen. Specter. Readers in adjacent states, in media markets out of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, etc., also know this.

Specter’s quandary is how can he stave off the political winds that likely forecast his political demise? He seeks opportunities to showcase himself and convince voters he remains relevant.

Pursuing the spy case of the Pats videotaping opponents’ game signals does not and will not demonstrate Specter’s relevance, or any other senator’s relevance, to the electorate. Instead, it will do the opposite.

The objective of publicity is to secure the attention of an audience in order to convey a message. When attention is achieved, the intended audience takes notice, receives and (when effectively delivered) understands the message as the sender intended.

Senator Specter secured the attention of a broad audience. Football fans and many other Americans took notice. They heard his message. But, many will draw a conclusion different than what he intended.

Here is what Senator Specter said, according to reports from the Washington Post:

The issue “has been on my mind for a long time; (He) is considering asking the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which he is the ranking minority member, to look into the issue.”

What is Specter’s issue? Here are some background facts for you:

The Pats videotaped Jets signals during a football game. When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell uncovered what happened, he collected the tapes and written notes from the Pats, who certified they turned all material over to him.

Goodell said he reviewed all materials and “the tapes revealed exactly what New England officials told the league they would.” Goodell also noted that, “in one of the tapes, a (Jets) coach was waving at the cameras, showing that they knew they were being taped.” He added, “It’s something that’s done quite widely in sports, and teams prepare for that.”

Despite the Pats’ candor and the Jets knowing they were being taped, Goodell fined the coach $500,000 (the highest amount a coach can be fined, and the highest fine in NFL history) and, Goodell penalized the team by stripping a first round draft pick.

Subsequently, “information about one tape was made public despite the league’s best efforts to ensure it wouldn’t be released,” and Goodell said, “he ordered them destroyed.” Goodell added, “It was important to destroy the tapes so the Patriots would not be able to gain a competitive edge from them.”

When asked why he wouldn’t just lock up the evidence, Goodell said, “the league thought it had when it first collected the notes and tapes but that information leaked out five days later.”

Following the leak, Goodell said the “NFL conducted an investigation but figured the best thing to do was to destroy the tapes,” adding “the tapes no longer served a purpose.”

Enter Senator Specter at his non-news conference last Friday saying he does not understand Goodell’s reasons for destroying evidence.

Specter said, “When he gives the reason for destroying the tapes [to] not have them available for a competitive advantage for someone else makes no sense.” He added, “They were under lock and key at the NFL. When matters of public interest are destroyed, it raises some obvious questions.”

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson said Commissioner Goodell’s decision (to destroy the tapes) “was a judgment that he made.”

Johnson added that he is “not angry about the taping, and considered the issue resolved.

According to the Washington Post, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said, when asked about it: “I try to speak about things I know something about.”

Voters and football fans everywhere understand the wisdom in those words. America’s citizens want all U.S. senators and representatives to focus on our nation’s most pressing issues. A sports spy case or steroid scandal is not on the list.