The definition of ethical behavior is often said to be doing the right thing when no one is watching. And, by that standard, Joe Brooks of Winterport was a winner in the recent primary election, even though he lost on Election Day.

Let us explain.

Brooks represented House District 42 in Waldo County from 1996 to 2002 before narrowly losing his bid for re-election.

He was back on the ballot June 13, seeking the Democratic nomination to regain his seat. And he won, at least he was told so by election officials. He appeared to have defeated his opponent by nine votes, 224-215.

But later, as he was reviewing the tally sheets, Brooks saw some discrepancies in one town’s results. More votes appeared to have been cast than ballots distributed, plus some numbers had been transposed.

By his own reckoning, Brooks figured he had actually lost the election by about 40 votes.

Now, in this era of divisive hardball politics, of multiple influence peddling investigations in Washington, of political parties jamming phone lines on Election Day and of phony candidates stealing Clean Election Fund money, you could be forgiven for assuming the worst.

In this era of cheating business executives, baseball players on steroids and undeserving “victims” stealing disaster relief money from the American Red Cross, you could almost assume that Brooks would have done the expedient thing: zipped his lip, pretended he didn’t notice and simply waited to see if anyone else discovered the mistake.

Instead, Brooks did the honorable thing. He got into his pickup truck and drove to his opponent’s house to break the news to her. And, indeed, a recount last week in Augusta confirmed as much. Brooks was out and Donna Gilbert was in.

Newspapers are quick to point out ethical lapses by politicians and, as a reporter for the Bangor Daily News for many years, Brooks had probably done some of that pointing himself.

But, when faced with a painful choice, Joe Brooks did the right thing – even when no one was watching.