WASHINGTON — In an era when Americans are constantly told that federal employees are overpaid, underworked, and indifferent, it is genuinely heartening to learn about one government worker who gave the job absolutely everything he had — sometimes in multiple states at once.

Court filings released this week reveal that former Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema had multiple sexual encounters with Matthew Ammel, the married bodyguard assigned to protect her, while she was serving in office. The admission came during a July 31 deposition in a lawsuit filed by Ammel’s ex-wife, Heather Ammel, who is seeking damages under North Carolina’s alienation-of-affection law. Sinema has acknowledged the affair in detail, including a tryst at a CNN host’s wedding, while her attorneys have reportedly argued the lawsuit should be dismissed.

"People ask what the security detail is for," said one former Capitol Hill aide. "The answer is: everything. They see everything, they hear everything, and apparently, they do everything."

The filings, obtained by Fox News, describe a relationship that began in late May 2024 while the pair were staying at an Airbnb in Napa, California, and continued at locations across the country. To the cynical observer, this sounds like a scandal. To anyone who has ever managed a federal work schedule, it sounds like remarkable dedication to duty — the kind of coverage area most security professionals would log as an extra shift.

Critics will note that Ammel was married at the time, and that his wife of 14 years is now suing. But let us not lose sight of what matters: in a government that often fails to deliver, here was an employee who went above and beyond the call of duty, performing his protective function with what the filings delicately describe as “romantic and intimate” thoroughness.

SENATORIAL SECURITY DETAIL: JOB PERFORMANCE METRICS

  • Primary objective: protect the principal. Achieved, repeatedly.
  • Geographic coverage: California, North Carolina, and unspecified locations across the U.S.
  • Overtime: uncompensated, but richly rewarded in other ways.
  • Security clearance: marital status did not impede operations.
  • Team morale: reportedly excellent, at least among the two of them.

Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent who left office at the beginning of last year, has long prided herself on being a maverick who refuses to be boxed in by party labels or conventional expectations. That the same spirit apparently extended to her security arrangements should surprise no one who followed her career. She was never going to be the kind of senator who did things by the book. That was the whole point of her.

Some say a senator’s relationship with a married member of her security detail is an abuse of power and a betrayal of public trust. Others say a bodyguard’s personal life is his own business. The truth, as always, lies in a third position I just invented: when a government employee finally gives 110 percent, we should celebrate the effort and sort out the paperwork later.

At press time, Capitol Police were reportedly reviewing their performance-review forms, with several veteran officers demanding to know whether “going above and beyond” was still considered a career-enhancing move or whether it had quietly become a federal offense.