At least it was his wife, I guess?

Court records from GOP Senate hopeful Jack Ryan's divorce from television actress Jeri Ryan were released by a Los Angeles judge on Monday. The records detail the reasons behind the divorce of the pair, which include allegations that the Senate hopeful, on three occasions, surprised his wife with trips to sex clubs in New Orleans, New York and Paris. At these clubs, he allegedly encouraged his wife to "have sex with him there, with another couple watching."

Kyle Sing over at Chicago Report has made some good points about the Ryan's right to privacy. The genesis of the release of these documents is a court case filed by several Chicago media groups, who argued that public interest outweighed the Ryan's right to privacy (and any negative effect the publicity would have on their 9-year-old son). While the results may have been juicy, and will probably have an effect on Ryan's electability (and, more cynically, the Chicago media's bottom line), the line of reasoning that divorce proceedings are an essential piece of information for the voters is far from clear.

Criminal records? Absolutely. Questionable business dealings? Sure. But divorce papers? That's a hard one to justify.