Can Mayor Megan Barry weather a sex scandal?

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry became the latest in a long line of elected officials who have stepped in front of reporters to publicly apologize for an inappropriate sexual relationship.

She did so alone Wednesday, clutching at her hands while answering questions about an affair with a subordinate she said began in the spring of 2016.

In a separate statement, Sgt. Rob Forrest Jr. — a Metro police officer and chief of Barry's mayoral security detail — admitted to the consensual relationship. Both the mayor and Forrest are married.

“This is about two middle aged, consenting adults who had feelings for each other, who were human and had failings,” Barry said at a hastily convened news conference in which she denied any professional misconduct.

► Q&A: Mayor Megan Barry discusses affair with officer, says she won't resign

The affair, which Barry said ended, already has led to the end of Forrest's 30-year career with the police force. Forrest retired effective Wednesday. The mayor said she will not resign.

Whether Barry can weather the erupting political scandal remains in question.

Within 90 minutes of the story emerging, Tanaka Vercher, the chairwoman of the Metro budget and finance committee, asked the attorney for the Metro Council whether she has the authority to investigate travel expenses incurred by the mayor and Forrest. Forrest was the mayor’s only accompanying aide on at least nine out-of-town trips, including to Greece and France.

Other members of the Metro Council have called Barry's relationship with Forrest a personal matter.

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Political crisis management experts say how such sex scandals unfold are hard to predict.

“If there really were a playbook everybody would use it,” said Eric Dezenhall, a former communications staffer in the Ronald Reagan White House who now operates the Washington, D.C.-based crisis communications firm Dezenhall Resources.

“One of the great mythologies that’s perpetuated by my field is there is a playbook,” he said. “My logic is if a playbook works, why do some people blow up? There are certain things some people can get away with and other people can’t.”

But when elected officials engage in sexual relationships with employees, the scandals can be magnified by investigations and legal probes.

“If you’re dealing with a subordinate, you now are entering the realm of a legal problem rather than meeting with someone in a hotel on a business trip,” Dezenhall said. “Did they abuse their position and is there going to be an inquiry of some kind? Was the person promoted or punished as part of the relationship?”

Vanderbilt University political scientist John Geer called the mayor's honesty in admitting to the relationship a good first step.

"My reaction so far is that Megan Barry should be given high marks for being straightforward and honest about it," said Geer, vice provost of academic and strategic affairs.

Mayor Barry largely characterized the relationship as a personal failing rather than a professional one, apologizing for the pain caused to her husband, Bruce, and her family.

She was also quick to draw a distinction between the #MeToo movement that has emerged after reports of inappropriate conduct including sexual harassment by figures in media, politics, entertainment and sports.

“It was inappropriate for us to have this affair, but I think that when we talk about the MeToo movement and those conversations, I want to be clear because I don’t want to muddy the MeToo movement,” she said during Wednesday’s news conference.

“The MeToo movement is about women who have been sexually harassed and economically disadvantaged for hundreds of years,” she said.

► Column: Conflicted about the Mayor Barry scandal? I am too.

Pat Shea, former director of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, which provides services to victims of harassment and abuse, also drew a contrast between the mayor's admitted behavior and harassment victims.

"There is a big distinction between a consensual relationship and sexual harassment," she said. "This is a perfect example. Illegal sexual harassment is where a person uses their power to force a sexual relationship on some who wouldn't otherwise engage. We cannot change the conversation from defending those who are being abused to one scrutinizing the relationship of two consenting adults who made a mistake."

At her news conference, Barry stood alone as she was peppered by questions about her sexual relationship, in contrast to other similar high-profile admissions by male elected officials in the past, including former New York governor Elliot Spitzer and former Congressman Anthony Weiner. In both cases, their wives stood by their side during their public confessions. In Spitzer's case, it was an admission of involvement with prostitutes in 2008.

There are far fewer examples of female elected officials that are involved in sex scandals, in large part because there are far fewer of them in office, Dezenhall said.

"The simple fact is women emerging into positions of power is a comparatively new phenomenon," he said.

The fact the mayor is presiding over Nashville's phenomenal growth and rise in popularity may benefit her during the crisis, Geer said.

"The situation happened at a time when things in Nashville are pretty good," Geer said. "The mayor prior to this was pretty popular. She had a strong foundation on which she was governing. That bolsters her in this situation. If she didn't, these kinds of things might be viewed in a different light."

While affairs have derailed some political careers, others have weathered the backlash.

In 2007, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom acknowledged previously having an affair with the wife of his campaign manager.

He remained in office before becoming lieutenant governor of California in 2011, and is now a leading candidate for governor in 2018.

In 2009, former South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford publicly revealed he had been engaging in an affair with an Argentine woman. He was censured by the South Carolina General Assembly and resigned as chair of the Republican Governors Association, but did not resign as governor. He was later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

And public sex scandal involving a bodyguard 30 years ago previously tarnished the career of a Nashville mayor.

Former Nashville Mayor Bill Boner’s high-profile affair made headlines for weeks. The then-mayor filed for divorce from his wife in 1988 but they continued living together for some time.

Then, in 1990, Boner announced he was engaged to a 34-year-old country singer named Traci Peel, making an appearance on The Phil Donahue Show.

In a July 1990 Tennessean story, Boner also reportedly had an affair with a “former bodyguard,” who was a Metro police officer.

Dave Boucher contributed. Reach Anita Wadhwani at awadhwani@tennessean.com, 615-259-8092 or on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.