Patrick Brazeau is an asshole. That much we already knew.

Since his appointment to the Senate, he’s made a name for himself by having the worst attendance record (no mean feat in a body whose members aren’t exactly known for showing up), calling a reporter a bitch, making fun of Theresa Spence for being fat and who can forget the time he was punched out by Justin Trudeau.

Until recently, his antics, while unbecoming a member of the chamber of sober second thought, were merely juvenile and perhaps a little mean.

That all changed on Thursday evening, when the news came out that “the Brazman,” as he calls himself, was cooling his heels in a Gatineau jail following a 911 call alleging domestic abuse. On Friday he was formally charged with assault and sexual assault.

Of course, the first question the Canadian media asked: is this another reason to abolish, or at least reform, the Senate?

Actually? It’s not.

Now I’m not saying this isn’t a scandal; of course it is. But it doesn’t say anything about the credibility of the Canadian Senate. It only tells us about the character of “the honourable” Senator from Quebec.

If we want to talk about the merits of Senate reform, that’s one thing, but what Brazeau did on Thursday night shouldn’t have any bearing on that debate.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if Brazeau is found guilty he should (and most likely will) be kicked out of the Senate. He’s already been removed from the Conservative caucus, something that probably should have happened months ago, say, around the time he suggested Jennifer Ditchburn should replace the “d” in her last name with a “b.”

But that doesn’t say anything about the Senate itself.

When MP Peter Goldring was arrested for drunk driving (admittedly, a less serious offence than the ones Brazeau has been accused of) no one suggested that this reflected poorly on the House of Commons itself, or that it should be reformed.

Part of the problem is that there already are several scandals surrounding Brazeau — scandals that actually do relate to the Senate itself, so it’s easy to lump this one in with the others.

But this is different.

When Brazeau doesn’t show up for meetings, that undermines the Senate. It suggests he doesn’t care and doesn’t think it’s important. And if Senators themselves don’t think their work matters, why should ordinary Canadians?

When Brazeau claims expenses for maintaining a second residence in the capitol region, when it’s where he actually lives full-time, that undermines the Senate. It suggests that the Senate is irresponsible with Canadians’ tax dollars.

More importantly, this affects the Senate because Brazeau isn’t the only one who appears to have been getting away with this. In fact, he may not even be the worst offender. Since Brazeau’s primary residence appears to be in Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, he actually lives in the province he was appointed to represent, unlike some Senators.

If we want to talk about Senate reform in the context of those scandals, that’s one thing, but the charges Brazeau is facing shouldn’t weigh on that discussion.

There is one other person that this specific scandal reflects badly on and that’s the man who appointed Brazeau to the Senate, Stephen Harper. Brazeau’s entire career in public office has been such an embarrassment that, at times, I’ve actually wondered if Harper only appointed him to make the Senate look bad. After all, Harper plays the long game. He’s not above doing things that will hurt him in the short term to get what he really wants.

But that would mean ignoring Harper’s long trend of appointing people to important positions with what appears to be a total absence of forethought and vetting.

Brazeau isn’t the only high-profile appointment that’s come back to embarrass the government, and I’m not just talking about cabinet ministers who can’t keep their feet out of their mouths and buy $16 glasses of orange juice.

Rather, I’m talking about people like Arthur Porter, the former chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the organization that oversees CSIS.

Porter was forced to resign after it came out that he had close ties to — and may have acted on behalf of — the President of Sierra Leone, along with a shady Russian (you know, the country that’s spying on us like it’s still the Cold War) go-between and arms dealer. Porter, who is currently being sued by McGill University in relation to his time as head of their hospitals, has since fled the country.

But even in this case, one that may involve a little thing called treason, no one is saying we should get rid of Canada’s spy watchdog. Rather, it only reflects badly on the people who actually did something wrong.

So if we actually want to talk about reforming or abolishing the Senate, let’s do so on the merits, and not because of the assholes.