State Houses Thread

[GreyhoundFan]

What a prince /s "A North Dakota state representative’s harassment was so constant, GOP colleague says, she moved her desk across the room"

Quote

Whenever North Dakota state Rep. Luke Simons walked near Rep. Emily O’Brien, his Republican colleague pretended to talk on the phone to avoid him. But that didn’t stop Simons from repeatedly making inappropriate comments about her clothes and personal life, she said.

Reporting his unprofessional behavior to the House leadership didn’t help either, she said, nor did ceasing to wear a dress that frequently drew his attention. Finally, O’Brien, who was pregnant, had to ask for a new seat as far away as possible from Simons, she said in a statement.

“My colleagues helped me relocate to a desk further away from him under the pretense that my pregnancy required closer proximity to a restroom rather than addressing his harassing behavior,” O’Brien said on Thursday. “Mine is just one of many instances that were handled by avoiding the real issue.”

After the release of a report last week detailing numerous other allegations of inappropriate behavior against Simons, he now faces bipartisan demands for his resignation, with threats of censure or expulsion from the House if he refuses.

The report documents the accounts of staff members and interns who reported Simons for what one staffer described as “really creepy” behavior, including allegedly giving a colleague an unsolicited shoulder massage during a hearing and recounting a “long story about shopping for thongs.”

Simons was defiant last week, saying that he planned to sue over the “unfounded” claims and comparing himself to Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who faced allegations of sexual assault in his confirmation hearings. Simons declined to comment to The Washington Post, deferring questions to his attorney.

“The truth will all come out,” Simons told The Post. “I can’t wait for the truth to come out.”

His attorney did not immediately respond to a message late on Monday.

Simons, 43, who represents Dickinson, his hometown, first won office in 2016. The barber, rancher and father of five is also a member of the Bastiat Caucus, a state group of Trump-aligned legislators.

O’Brien said Simons began harassing her soon after her election to the state House in 2016, the Grand Forks Herald reported.

“Every couple of days he’d walk by and give me the up-down,” O’Brien said, referencing the way Simons looked at her.

Other days, O’Brien said Simons would ask her about her personal life, questioning who was home doing the dishes and laundry when she was at work. “He would say that I must be a ‘good secretary for your boss,’ ” she told the Herald. “He would say ‘you’re lucky your boss lets you come out here to work.’ ”

She eventually reported the behavior to the legislative leadership, but she said no one ever informed her of any actions taken against Simons.

Lawyers for the legislative leaders, meanwhile, began compiling their own report on his behavior. Legislative Council Director John Bjornson told the Associated Press last week that he decided to release the documents after Simons used profanity in a tirade aimed at two Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol’s cafeteria who had asked him to wear a mask. Simons has since publicly apologized for that incident.

In the report, released on Thursday, one woman reported that the first time Simons visited her office during the 2017 legislative session, he “leaned over [the] desk and made a remark about her eyelashes being very beautiful sort of like his wife’s.”

A staff member in 2018 said they would no longer continue working with Simons after he had made them feel “extremely uncomfortable” when he arrived at their office to discuss a legal matter.

“What does immune from liability mean, like if you were in a car accident and I came upon the scene and you were lying on the side of the road,” Simons allegedly said. “If I took your shirt off to administer aid to a wound, I wouldn’t be guilty of sexual harassment.”

The staffer replied, “That is an inappropriate example.”

To what Simons allegedly said, “Oh ya, I took it too far.”

By 2019, according to the report, Simons was only allowed to speak with male administrative staff, unless female staff members consented to speak with him.

Earlier this year, a staffer reported Simons for allegedly telling an intern, “I would like to put my hands in your hair.” Another intern this year said Simons allegedly told her he “had seen a photo of her when she had bangs and she looked like a schoolgirl.”

The report prompted several lawmakers, including Republicans, to call for Simons to step down. In a joint statement released Friday, House Majority Leader Chet Pollert (R), Assistant Majority Leader Scott Louser (R) and House Caucus Chair Rep. Glenn Bosch (R) urged Simons “to resign from his seat.”

“Should he refuse, the legislature will weigh all the information and options, including expulsion,” Pollert said. “We want to make clear that this behavior will not be accepted at the Legislature.”

On Friday, Simons denied the allegations in a live-streamed news conference with the Dickinson Press, adding he would file a defamation lawsuit for the “unfounded” and “false” allegations. Some of his supporters are raising $15,000 to cover his legal fees.

“I know exactly how Judge Kavanaugh feels now,” Simons said. “[They] have come against my character and these allegations are simply not true.” He added he has more than two years of recordings of past conversations that disprove the accusations.

On Friday, Minority Leader Joshua Boschee tweeted that he supported calls for Simons to resign.

“If Rep. Simons chooses not to, then we will begin the Censure process which will likely include a vote of expulsion from the House,” Boschee tweeted. He told the Bismarck Tribune he had asked for a draft of an article of censure against Simons, adding that he was working with Pollert to determine the best sanctions to hold Simons accountable.

O’Brien said she believes the report only captures a portion of Simons’s inappropriate behavior. She urged others who had experienced similar interactions to come forward, she told the Grand Forks Herald.

“It shouldn’t just be, ‘It is what it is,’" she said.

Of course he compares himself to Justice I Like Beer.

[GreyhoundFan]

GQP: The party of law and order. /s

[47of74]

One idiot in the legislature is saying Iowa GOP love it or leave it.

Quote

Benton County area residents heard an update from State Senator Dawn Driscoll on what’s going on with the Iowa Legislature in a meeting Saturday, March 20, at the community center in Van Horne.

Driscoll, R-Williamsburg, is in the first year of her four-year term as state senator, representing Benton, Iowa and Poweshiek Counties.

Driscoll said there is new language to come on gun regulations. This will be on the state ballot for Iowans to decide, Driscoll said. She said she is very pro gun. She tells those who oppose this, “If you don’t like it, then you need to move.” She added, “Iowans are very passionate about this. We know it will pass with huge numbers.”

Gladly.  I can't wait until the day I can pack up and high tail it out of Iowa.  And I won't be back except to visit family either. 

[Cartmann99]

[Audrey2]

Although there are other places this could fit, I'm going to put this LIncoln Project video here. I am beyond livid that so many states are making voting more difficult and restricting the voters whose voices desperately need to be heard.

 

[hoipolloi]

Get a load of this Republican asshat in the Missouri legislature, State Rep Rick Roeber (R-Abuse). Oh, let's see what his "values" are:

• Pro-life? ✅
• Pro-guns? ✅
• Ordained Christian pastor? ✅
• Backs the Blue? ✅
• Supports school "choice"? ✅
• Subjected his minor children to serious and repeated sexual, physical & mental abuse? ✅

Heʻs so terrible that even his fellow Republicans want him kicked out. They wouldn't let him resign but want to be able to expel him from the legislature.

At the time of his childrenʻs & ex-wifeʻs reports to DFS in the 1990s, nothing was done although the agency initially substantiated their allegations of abuse. Unfortunately, Roeber got that finding nullified:

Quote

 

Documents provided to the committee show Roeber appealed a 2003 Division of Family Services report that found probable cause that he was the “perpetrator of sexual maltreatment” to one of his children. His ex-wife told investigators that he appealed because he was applying for a local church position that involved work with children.

The Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board reversed the finding and labeled the claims against Roeber as “unsubstantiated” after a hearing at which neither Roeber’s ex-wife nor her lawyer attended, according to the committee report. Roeber has cited the decision as an exoneration. [Emphasis added.]

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by hoipolloi
Adding info

[clueliss]

This was on the local news this morning and yup - I was struck by the whole he tried to resign but they won't let him because they want to do the deep dive investigation on him so they can hold him accountable/kick him out.

[GreyhoundFan]

From the WaPo article about Roeber:

Quote

...

In his testimony before the committee, Roeber denied the sexual and physical abuse and said he “did not recall whether he used a belt on his children,” according to the report. He also blamed his former wife for breaking up the family and claimed that her “bitterness” had “spilled over to the children.”

Roeber was “combative, defensive, defiant, and at times angry” during his hearing, according to the report. At one point, he said that “all my kids are Democrats” and therefore involved in a “political hit” against him because “Democrats would accuse their fathers” of this kind of abuse.

...

What a charmer. /s

[clueliss]

Guess who got expelled.

 

[47of74]

Corrupters gonna corrupt.  This time an Iowa State Senator went to the DNR about his son-in-law's not being approved to dump shit into a waterway fast enough.

Quote

Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, contacted the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on behalf of Supreme Beef, email records show. The company on April 5 won state approval of its plan to spread manure from 11,600 animals on fields near Bloody Run Creek in the Monona area. 

One of the company’s principals, Jared Walz, is married to Zumbach’s daughter, Chelsea.

Jess Mazour, Sierra Club’s conservation program coordinator, accused the state of protecting farm interests more than the environment. 

“This was a done deal the minute the application was submitted.,” Mazour said. “We’re sick and tired of our state elected and appointed officials colluding with the factory farm industry to make sure they get what they want, when they want it, how they want it, despite existing rules and regulations. The DNR should work for the people of Iowa and the environment — not the factory farm industry” she added.

 

[Audrey2]

Meanwhile, some of the Ohio State Representatives wants to rename a state park for OFM.

Ohio GOP lawmakers propose naming state park after Trump

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ohio-gop-lawmakers-propose-naming-state-park-after-trump/ar-BB1fTHdx?ocid=uxbndlbing

Spoiler

tate Rep. Mike Loychik (R) introduced House Bill 261 on Monday with the support of his party, noting that the legislation if passed will serve to "honor the commitment and dedication that our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, bestowed upon the great people of Trumbull County," according to a statement.

Under the bill, Ohio's Mosquito Lake State Park will be renamed Donald J. Trump State Park, in an effort to celebrate the former president who led in the state in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. It would also allocate $150,000 toward changing the signs in the park, the bill noted.

"I witnessed the unprecedented and astounding support that President Trump received from my constituents across the 63rd District and Mosquito Lake State Park," Loychik said of his proposal.

He also noted that Trump received a record number of votes in the state for any presidential candidate.

"This enthusiasm for our former president was also historic throughout the state of Ohio last November as he pushed for initiatives and policies that was very well-received with my constituency and the state," he said, according to The Associated Press.

Ohio's Trumbull County, where the park is located, voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November, with the former president securing 55 percent of the vote in that county, AP reported.

Loychick initially received pushback from Democratic lawmakers in the state when he announced his plans for the legislation in March.

"Ohioans' are struggling with an addiction crisis, economic disruption, and a pandemic that the other guy said would disappear just like magic," Democratic state Rep. Rich Brown tweeted last month in response to the announcement. "Instead of addressing these pressing issues, Ohio House Republicans are spending their time flattering the Insurrectionist in Chief."

Earlier this year, two GOP lawmakers in Ohio called for the state to honor Trump with a holiday named for him.

I am enjoying that it is Mosquito Lake State Park that they want to rename.

[Becky]

9 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Meanwhile, some of the Ohio State Representatives wants to rename a state park for OFM.

Ohio GOP lawmakers propose naming state park after Trump

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ohio-gop-lawmakers-propose-naming-state-park-after-trump/ar-BB1fTHdx?ocid=uxbndlbing

  Reveal hidden contents

tate Rep. Mike Loychik (R) introduced House Bill 261 on Monday with the support of his party, noting that the legislation if passed will serve to "honor the commitment and dedication that our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, bestowed upon the great people of Trumbull County," according to a statement.

Under the bill, Ohio's Mosquito Lake State Park will be renamed Donald J. Trump State Park, in an effort to celebrate the former president who led in the state in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. It would also allocate $150,000 toward changing the signs in the park, the bill noted.

"I witnessed the unprecedented and astounding support that President Trump received from my constituents across the 63rd District and Mosquito Lake State Park," Loychik said of his proposal.

He also noted that Trump received a record number of votes in the state for any presidential candidate.

"This enthusiasm for our former president was also historic throughout the state of Ohio last November as he pushed for initiatives and policies that was very well-received with my constituency and the state," he said, according to The Associated Press.

Ohio's Trumbull County, where the park is located, voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November, with the former president securing 55 percent of the vote in that county, AP reported.

Loychick initially received pushback from Democratic lawmakers in the state when he announced his plans for the legislation in March.

"Ohioans' are struggling with an addiction crisis, economic disruption, and a pandemic that the other guy said would disappear just like magic," Democratic state Rep. Rich Brown tweeted last month in response to the announcement. "Instead of addressing these pressing issues, Ohio House Republicans are spending their time flattering the Insurrectionist in Chief."

Earlier this year, two GOP lawmakers in Ohio called for the state to honor Trump with a holiday named for him.

I am enjoying that it is Mosquito Lake State Park that they want to rename.

Oh for corn sakes.  Well, that will age well.  Name a park after a one-term President who will go down in history as an abject failure as a chief executive, a man who took this country backwards, brought us to the brink of civil war and government overthrow, made the USA a laughing stock in the world?  It will be like when I pass by Richard Nixon Park - just makes me wonder what idjit thought that was a good idea. 

[CTRLZero]

From the Seattle Times, a Trumpster who was defeated for governor last go-around is now trying for another seat.  He was let go from his position as police chief (not sure if he had any subordinates, it’s a sparsely populated area), and his campaign finances were/are under investigation.  So, typical Trumpster.  Snippet from article follows:
 

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp has filed to challenge Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, setting up another potential intraparty contest over the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Newhouse and fellow Washington Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler were among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in encouraging the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. Both have faced angry condemnations for their votes from GOP activists still loyal to the former president.

Culp filed paperwork Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), creating his official campaign committee, allowing him to raise money for a congressional bid.

Culp, the former police chief of Republic, Ferry County, lost the 2020 election to Gov. Jay Inslee by more than a half million votes, but, like Trump, he refused to concede while lobbing false and unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud. He withdrew a lawsuit making those claims after his attorney was threatened with sanctions.

While his general-election defeat was decisive, Culp powered through a crowded GOP primary and racked up major support in Eastern and Central Washington, including counties that make up Newhouse’s 4th Congressional District.

In a text message, Culp said he had “no public announcement at this time,” but he pointed to an “Ignite the Right” rally scheduled for Friday in the Tri-Cities. He campaigned throughout last year at a series of similar rallies across the state that mixed politics with live rock and country music. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by CTRLZero
Darn tablet.

[Audrey2]

The bastards are at it again. This time it's voter suppression in Texas, as if they needed any more ways to suppress the vote.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-republicans-targeting-voting-access-150259109.html

Texas Republicans Targeting Voting Access Find Their Bull's-Eye: Cities

Spoiler

HOUSTON — Voting in the 2020 election presented Zoe Douglas with a difficult choice: As a therapist meeting with patients over Zoom late into the evening, she just was not able to wrap up before polls closed during early voting.

Then Harris County introduced 24-hour voting for a single day. At 11 p.m. the Thursday before the election, Douglas joined fast-food workers, nurses, construction workers, night owls and other late-shift workers at NRG Arena, one of eight 24-hour voting sites in the county, where more than 10,000 people cast their ballots in a single night.

“I can distinctly remember people still in their uniforms; you could tell they just got off of work, or maybe they’re going to work — a very diverse mix,” said Douglas, 27, a Houston native.

Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times

Twenty-four-hour voting was one of a host of options that Harris County introduced to help residents cast ballots, along with drive-thru voting and proactively mailing out ballot applications. The new alternatives, tailored to a diverse workforce struggling amid a pandemic in Texas’ largest county, helped increase turnout by nearly 10% compared with 2016; nearly 70% of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of any fraud.

Yet Republicans are pushing measures through the state Legislature that would take aim at the very process that produced such a large turnout. Two omnibus bills, including one that the House is likely to take up in the coming week, are seeking to roll back virtually every expansion the county put in place for 2020.

The bills would make Texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ballot in. And they are a prime example of a Republican-led effort to roll back voting access in Democrat-rich cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Arizona’s Maricopa County, while having far less of an impact on voting in rural areas that tend to lean Republican.

Bills in several states are, in effect, creating a two-pronged approach to urban and rural areas that raises questions about the disparate treatment of cities and the large number of voters of color who live in them and is helping fuel opposition from corporations that are based in or have workforces in those places.

In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare tack of outlining restrictions that would apply only to counties with population of more than 1 million, targeting the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.

The Republican focus on diverse urban areas, voting activists say, evokes the state’s history of racially discriminatory voting laws — including poll taxes and “white primary” laws during the Jim Crow era — that essentially excluded Black voters from the electoral process.

Most of Harris County’s early voters were white, according to a study by the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit group. But the majority of those who used drive-thru or 24-hour voting — the early voting methods the Republican bills would prohibit — were people of color, the group found.

“It’s clear they are trying to make it harder for people to vote who face everyday circumstances, especially things like poverty and other situations,” said Chris Hollins, a Democrat and the former interim clerk of Harris County, who oversaw and implemented many of the policies during the November election. “With 24-hour

voting, there wasn’t even claims or a legal challenge during the election.”

The effort to further restrict voting in Texas is taking place against the backdrop of an increasingly tense showdown between legislators and Texas-based corporations, with Republicans in the House proposing financial retribution for companies that have spoken out.

American Airlines and Dell Technologies both voiced strong opposition to the bill, and AT&T issued a statement supporting “voting laws that make it easier for more Americans to vote,” although it did not specifically mention Texas.

American Airlines also dispatched Jack McCain, the son of former Sen. John McCain, to lobby Republicans in Austin to roll back some of the more stringent restrictions.

Republicans in the state Legislature appear unbowed. In amendments filed to the state budget this past week, House Republicans proposed that “an entity that publicly threatened any adverse reaction” related to “election integrity” would not be eligible for some state funds.

While those amendments did not end up in the final budget, a broader proposal threatening corporations that speak out on “any legislative or executive action” was added to the state’s “wishlist,” a compilation of long-shot proposals. Even with unlikely odds of passing, simply placing the proposals on the record is seen by lobbyists and operatives in Austin as a thinly veiled warning to businesses to stay quiet on the voting bills.

The Perryman Group, an economic research and analysis firm based in Waco, said in a recent study that implementing controversial voting measures could lead to conferences or events being pulled from the state and prompt businesses or workers to shun it. The group estimated that restrictive new laws would lead to a huge decrease in business activity in the state by 2025 and cost tens of thousands of jobs.

Among the restrictions in two omnibus bills in the Texas Legislature are a ban on 24-hour voting, a ban on drive-thru voting and harsh criminal penalties for local election officials who provide assistance to voters. There are also new limits on voting machine distribution that could lead to a reduction in numbers of precincts and a ban on encouraging absentee voting.

The bills also include a measure that would make it much more difficult to remove a poll watcher for improper conduct. Partisan poll watchers, who are trained and authorized to observe the election on behalf of a candidate or party, have occasionally crossed the line into voter intimidation or other types of misbehavior; Harris County elections officials said they had received several complaints about Republican poll watchers last year.

Hollins, the former Harris County clerk, said Republicans recognized that “Black and brown and poor and young people” use the flexible voting options more than others.

“They’re scared of that,” he said.

While Republican-controlled legislatures in Georgia and Arizona are passing new voting laws after Democratic victories in November, Texas is pushing new restrictions despite having backed former President Donald Trump by more than 600,000 votes. The effort reflects the dual realities confronting Republicans in the state Legislature: a base eager for changes to voting following Trump’s 2020 loss and a booming population that is growing more diverse.

Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from northeastern Texas who sponsored the state Senate bill, defended it as part of a long effort to strengthen “election security” in Texas.

“I realize there’s a big national debate now, and maybe we’re getting sucked into that, but this is not something new to Texas,” Hughes said in an interview.

He said that lawmakers were seeking to roll back mail voting access because that process was more prone to fraud. He offered no proof, and numerous studies have shown that U.S. voter fraud is exceptionally rare.

Hughes said that the proposed ban on drive-thru voting stemmed from the difficulty of getting access for partisan poll watchers at the locations and that 24-hour voting was problematic because it was difficult to find poll watchers for overnight shifts.

But many voters in Harris County, whose population of 4.7 million ranks third in the country and is bigger than 25 states’, see a different motive.

Kristie Osi-Shackelford, a costume designer from Houston who was working temporary jobs during the pandemic to help support her family, used 24-hour voting because it offered her the flexibility she needed as she juggled work and raising her three children. She said that it had taken her less than 10 minutes.

I’m sure there are people who may not have gotten to vote in the last couple of elections, but they had the opportunity at night, and it’s kind of sad that the powers that be feel like that has to be taken away in order to, quote unquote, protect election integrity,” Osi-Shackelford said. “And I struggled to find words, because it’s so irritating, and I’m tired. I’m tired of hearing the same stuff and seeing the same stuff so blatantly over and over again for years.”

Brittany Hyman, 35, was eight months pregnant as Election Day was drawing near and was also raising a 4-year-old. Fearful of COVID-19 but also of the sheer logistics of navigating a line at the polls, Hyman voted at one of the drive-thru locations.

“Being able to drive-thru vote was a savior for me,” Hyman said.

She added that because she had been pregnant, she probably would not have risked waiting in a long line to vote.

Harris County’s drive-thru voting, which more than 127,000 voters took advantage of in the general election, drew immediate attention from state Republicans, who sued Hollins and the county in an attempt to ban the practice and discard any votes cast in the drive-thru process. The Texas Supreme Court ruled against the Republicans in late October.

Other provisions in the GOP bill, while not aimed as directly at Harris County, will most likely still have the biggest impact in the state’s biggest county. One proposal, which calls for a uniform number of voting machines to be deployed in each precinct, could hamper the ability to deploy extra machines in densely populated areas.

This month, in a further escalation of public pressure on legislators, Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston, a Democrat, gathered more than a dozen speakers, including business executives, civil rights activists and former athletes, for a 90-minute news conference denouncing the bill.

“What is happening here in Texas is a warning shot to the rest of the country,” said Lina Hidalgo, the Harris County judge and a Democrat who has pushed for continued expansion of voting access in the county. “First Georgia, then Texas, then it’s more and more states, and soon enough we will have taken the largest step back since Jim Crow. And it’s on all of us to stop that.”

I don't usually put the whole article in but I wanted to make sure our friends and other countries could read this too. What Texas is planning on doing to suppress voters especially in larger cities is absolutely criminal.

[fraurosena]

Subtitled, no sound necessary.

[GreyhoundFan]

It's not a big surprise that this person is a repug: "Alaska lawmaker blasted airline for ‘mask tyranny.’ Now she’s banned from the only flights to the capital."

Quote

Last week, a police officer responded to an Alaska Airlines terminal in Juneau as state Sen. Lora Reinbold clashed with staffers over mask rules. It was a familiar battle for the Republican lawmaker, a vaccine skeptic who has blasted flight attendants as “mask bullies” and accused the airline of “mask tyranny.”

Now, she isn’t welcome on their flights at all. Alaska Airlines this weekend banned Reinbold “for her continued refusal to comply with employee instruction regarding the current mask policy,” the airline said in a statement to The Washington Post.

That’s a serious problem for the lawmaker, because Alaska Airlines operates the only regular flights to the state capital from her home in the Anchorage area, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Reinbold scrambled on Sunday to get to Juneau via an arduous 14-plus-hour car ride, including a jaunt through Canada, to reach a ferry to the capital.

“Alaska I went to new heights to serve you & have a new appreciation for the marine ferry system,” Reinbold posted on Sunday night.

Reinbold also lashed out at the airline, claiming that her latest fight over mask rules was caused by “uptight employees at the counter” and arguing that Alaska Airlines was wrong to publicly confirm that she had been banned.

“Alaska Airlines sent information, including my name, to the media without my knowledge nor permission. I do believe constitutional rights are at risk under corporate covid policies,” she wrote on Facebook.

The state senator is the latest Republican to push back against corporate and government policies mandating mask use, even as health officials have urged Americans to continue adhering to the rules as more contagious variants have continued fueling the coronavirus pandemic.

Reinbold, who represents Eagle River, a district north of Anchorage, served in the Alaska House from 2013 until 2019, when she won a Senate seat. As the pandemic took hold in Alaska and much of the United States, she emerged as one of the loudest voices in Juneau against restrictions.

As chairwoman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, she used hearings to take direct aim at Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pandemic rules, regularly calling witnesses to dismiss the effectiveness of masks and other policies. She also refused to wear a face mask in the Capitol, instead donning a clear shield over her mouth.

She’s faced consequences for her stance, even from her Republican colleagues. In February, Dunleavy said his administration would no longer participate in any hearings she chaired, accusing her of using her position to “misrepresent” covid-19 policies.

“I will not continue to subject the public resources of the State of Alaska to the mockery of a charade, disguised as public purpose,” Dunleavy wrote in a letter.

Last month, she was banned from most of the Capitol for refusing to follow mask rules.

Outside of the legislature, meanwhile, Reinbold has taken particular umbrage at Alaska Airlines rules requiring her to mask up on flights. In November, she posted a screed to Facebook to complain that a “scaredy cat Karen whined loudly and was a Tattle tail when I took my dumb worthless suffocating mask off, a bit longer than she wanted, for my food and drink.”

In a later post, she encouraged travelers to evade Alaska’s rules requiring a negative coronavirus test to enter the state, writing “sneak by if you are bold [for] they cannot force you.”

Last week, bystanders filmed her arguing with Alaska Airlines staffers in Juneau, including one man who instructed her to pull her mask up over her nose. A police officer at the airport responded to the scene but “didn’t take any enforcement action,” the Juneau Police Department told the Daily News.

On Facebook, Reinbold said the incident was simply a “reasonable” discussion about the mask policy.

“I was reasonable with all Alaska Airlines employees. ... I inquired about mask exemption with uptight employees at the counter,” she wrote, suggesting that the timing of her ban was politically motivated to cause her to miss upcoming votes in the Senate.

She’s now one of more than 500 people banned from Alaska Airlines flights over failure to adhere to mask rules, the Daily News reported. The airline said in a statement that her “suspension is effective immediately pending further review.”

 

[fraurosena]

I debated whether to put this is the memes thread, because this made me laugh. Do you think he's really this stupidly ignorant, or is he faking it?

 

[Audrey2]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

I debated whether to put this is the memes thread, because this made me laugh. Do you think he's really this stupidly ignorant, or is he faking it?

 

On the other hand I am betting that at least one of his classmates did get a good science education and did choose to pursue a career in the sciences, including medicine. The problem is not always that we didn't teach it. The problem is there are some children who refuse to pay attention and learn anything. I'm betting he was one of those minimal efforts students in school except in history and political science type of students, and in those subjects he only listened enough to affirm his biases.

[GreyhoundFan]

Another repug prince (TW: rape details): "An intern accused an Idaho Republican of rape. He was warned before about his behavior toward women."

Quote

After a lobbyist reported an Idaho legislator for making her feel uncomfortable at a reception, Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger (R) received a warning from a fellow lawmaker: Don’t flirt with or date women who work in the state Capitol.

The advice left von Ehlinger “defensive,” state Rep. Megan Blanksma told the Idaho House’s Ethics and House Policy Committee, the Idaho Statesman reported, and complaining he was a “single, tall, blond, good-looking guy and, you know, sometimes people take things the wrong way.”

Now, after less than a year in office, von Ehlinger stands accused of raping a 19-year-old legislative staffer.

As police conduct a criminal investigation, a separate inquiry by the ethics committee found probable cause in the intern’s claim — and also revealed a pattern of complaints from women who work in the Idaho Capitol and say von Ehlinger sexually harassed them.

Von Ehlinger also stands accused of asking a married House clerk on a date and following a lobbyist to the bathroom, according to records released by the Idaho House and reported on by the Idaho Statesman and the Associated Press on Monday.

Von Ehlinger, 38, has called the rape allegation an “embarrassment” and denied violating any laws or legislative rules. In an emailed statement to The Washington Post, the legislator’s attorney called the harassment complaints from multiple women “non-issues which only serve to distract from the heinous, demonstrably false allegations which have been leveled against Representative von Ehlinger.”

Von Ehlinger “maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and he looks forward to putting this matter to rest,” Edward W. Dindinger, his attorney, added in an email.

Von Ehlinger, an Army veteran who previously worked in real estate and as a substitute teacher, was appointed to his seat in June to succeed a lawmaker who died. He won an uncontested election to keep the seat in November. Despite his victory, von Ehlinger spread unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud following the 2020 election while participating in the “Stop the Steal” movement aimed at undermining President Biden’s victory in favor of former president Donald Trump.

The 19-year-old staffer first reported that von Ehlinger had raped her to the House’s assistant sergeant-at-arms on March 11, the Statesman reported. She said von Ehlinger invited her to dinner in downtown Boise on March 10. After the meal, he allegedly took her to his apartment, where he carried her to his bedroom, the AP reported. The woman said she told von Ehlinger she did not want to have sex, and said she was not on birth control in hopes that it would dissuade him. Instead, she said von Ehlinger knelt with his knees on her shoulders and forced her to perform oral sex.

According to transcripts included in the ethics investigation, the woman later told von Ehlinger on a phone call that she felt violated.

“Like I told you I didn’t want to do that,” she said, the AP reported. “I said I was was uncomfortable.”

According to the transcript, von Ehlinger said he regretted making her feel uncomfortable.

“I um clearly made you feel uncomfortable,” he said in the transcript. “And um, I didn’t know that at the time, but I do now. And that’s why I’m, uh, like seriously remorseful about it.”

The Boise Police Department has also opened an investigation into the allegation.

The woman has not been publicly identified by the police or the ethics committee and The Post does not name victims of sexual assault. But some right-wing blogs and supporters of von Ehlinger, including a fellow Idaho Republican and a lawyer who was representing von Ehlinger, have publicly named the woman and called her a liar.

Von Ehlinger allegedly made two other women who work at the state Capitol uncomfortable by pursuing them romantically, according to records released by the state House.

A lobbyist accused him of following her to the bathroom during a special legislative session last August, Boise State Public Radio reported. She brushed the incident off, until she said von Ehlinger again followed her around at a reception during the current legislative session, even after she repeatedly tried to move away from him. At one point, the lobbyist noticed her purse had been knocked over, and she said she worried von Ehlinger had searched through the contents looking for her home address.

In January, a House clerk reported that von Ehlinger asked her to go on a run and out for a meal. She declined in an email, telling the representative that she was married and felt uncomfortable, Boise State Public Radio reported. That proposal came just days after new lawmakers, including von Ehlinger, had undergone “Respectful Workplace Training.”

Following those complaints, another lawmaker said he told von Ehlinger to be careful about being “overly nice” or “flirty” with women at work.

The Ethics and House Policy Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the sexual misconduct complaint against von Ehlinger on Wednesday. The committee may recommend to reprimand or to expel von Ehlinger, but it would then take a two-thirds vote in the state House to remove him, the Statesman reported.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[Audrey2]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Another repug prince (TW: rape details): "An intern accused an Idaho Republican of rape. He was warned before about his behavior toward women."

 

This is Idaho so I am ready for the misogynistic repulsive bs in five.. 4.. three.. two..

[Cartmann99]

[Howl]

Texas, y'all.  As @Audrey2 noted upthread, Texas is busy restricting voting rights for minorities. 

If you want to know how bad it is in my state, check out the "Purity at the Ballot Box" youtube. Maddow played this on her Friday show.  

 

Just now, Howl said:

Texas, y'all.  As @Audrey2 noted upthread, Texas is busy restricting voting rights for minorities. 

If you want to know how bad it is in my state, check out the "Purity at the Ballot Box" youtube. Maddow played this on her Friday show.  

 

As FL is slowly discovering, I'm wondering if some of the restrictions meant to restrict minority voting are also going to inadvertently make it more difficult for conservatives who are poor/elderly  to vote, whether in person or by mail. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

As FL is slowly discovering, I'm wondering if some of the restrictions meant to restrict minority voting are also going to inadvertently make it more difficult for conservatives who are poor/elderly  to vote, whether in person or by mail. 

Rachel Maddow did a piece on this just this week. In it, she showed how, after they realized their discriminatory bill would majorly affect their own voters, the Florida GOP was in a panic when they found out it was too late to stop DeSantis from signing it (because the asshat had publicly stated that of course he would sign it). So now they are hurriedly making plans to educate voters how to circumvent all the roadblocks their restrictive bill throws up. Problem is, their ads and pamphlets will also be seen by Dem voters... 

So yeah, they right royally f'ed themselves there. 

[fraurosena]

Republicans are chipping away at democracy, one state at a time. They are going to extremes to keep the public from knowing what’s going on. 
Thread on what’s happening in Texas right now in order to make is as difficult as possible to vote:

From the thread, to illustrate how far they are going to keep their going’s on from the public’s eye:

If it’s literally not allowed to see the light of day, you know it can’t be good.