Is George Will's wife making him pull his punches?

Conservative columnist George Will has a conflict of interest problem not of his making. A regular, and superior, commentator on politics and current affairs in op-ed pages and on television, Will’s objectivity and independent judgment is apparently compromised by the fact that his wife is an advisor to the presidential campaign of Texas governor Rick Perry

Initially, Will took the position that his wife’s business and his were independent, and that his integrity should be presumed based on his long and distinguished record as a columnist. But the Washington Post ombudsman, among others, declared that Will’s readers needed to be able to make their own judgment about his objectivity, and lately Will has been issuing formal disclaimers whenever he wades into Republican presidential politics. Most recently he did this while slamming New Gingrich—accurately and with precision—for taking a cheap shot at Mitt Romney regarding Romney’s work at Bain Capital.  Will wrote:

“Newt Gingrich — the friend of his detractors, to whom he offers serial vindications — provided on Monday redundant evidence for the proposition that he is the least conservative candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination: He faulted Mitt Romney for committing acts of capitalism.”

At the end of his attack on Gingrich, Will duly noted,

(Disclosure: This columnist’s wife, Mari Will, is an adviser to another Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.)

Which reveals the conflict. If does not, however, address the conflict. By attacking Gingrich, Will necessarily aids the candidacies of the other non-Romneys in the field, of which Perry is one. When Will attacks Romney, which he did here, he obviously also assists the non-Romneys, from which the hard right desperately wants to find a champion. Has Will focused his considerable intellectual and rhetorical arsenal on Gov. Perry? Oddly, no, despite the fact that the verbally-challenged governor would seem to be exactly the kind of target the erudite Will would view with contempt. His only take on Perry was a positive one.

Who knows if Will’s desire to keep domestic tranquility is behind these and other columns that may work to Perry’s advantage? And that’s the problem…we don’t know, and George reminding us that his conflict exists does nothing to dispel legitimate suspicion. He has what is in legal ethics known as a “punch-pulling conflict,” the situation where an individual would be expected to “pull his punches” when an unconflicted professional would be more aggressive. Is Will pulling his punches when Perry would normally feel his barbs? Again—we don’t know.

There are only two ways Will can proceed without undermining his credibility and the public’s perception of his integrity. He can eschew commentary on the Republican race until Perry drops out, or he can take his scalpel to the Texas governor in typically merciless fashion, making it clear that Mrs. Will either doesn’t carry her political loyalties into the homestead, or that George doesn’t care if she does. Such an approach can work: James Carville and Mary Matalin have been slamming each other’s candidates and employers for years, and they seem to be happily married.

Will’s current path, however, does both the columnist and his readers a disservice. Readers should be certain that Will’s choice of topics and targets is not dictated by his wife’s professional needs, and will should not let his wife’s career choices undermine his trustworthiness as a political analyst.