My dad is a smart guy. Throughout my life, he’s been right a lot. But most of the time, he wasn’t trying to be right. He was trying to teach me something. One piece of advice my dad gave me was foundational. And I guess I thought all parents passed down this truism to their kids. But today, I am reminded that they don’t. (See Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) revelation today that he did in fact tweet that photo.)

Here’s what my dad told me: Lying makes it worse.

One Sunday morning when I was 8, I realized I couldn’t finish the plate of pancakes I’d helped myself to. For some reason, I felt the worst thing I could do was throw away those pancakes. My dad sat in the next room, as I claimed I was done and cleverly stashed the remnants in the garbage disposal. The true genius of my plan was that I didn’t turn on the disposal. Hence, he’d never know.

Um, wrong.

I could’ve admitted to throwing away breakfast, apologized and maybe agreed that I shouldn’t have been so greedy at the table — and honestly, that would’ve ended it. But instead, I lied.

And guess what? SO MUCH WORSE.

I’m pretty sure that it would take a couple more times of losing my friend time or phone privileges before I learned that no matter what I had done, lying would only make it worse. Oh, and also: The truth always comes out eventually. I learned these things before the transparency of social media and the evolution of “gotcha” journalism. (Not that I’m perfect, mind you, but the lesson has stuck.)

So, to members of Congress and other politicians, c-level execs, professionals running a marketing or PR department, and anyone in the public eye, I implore you: Enough with the lying. The public relations nightmares that follow an ill-advised decision will be bad. You bet. But my dad, who, as it turns out, is right about a lot of things, has been proven right time and again about this: Lying will only make it worse.