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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLawmaker Makes Lewd Comment To 17 Year-Old Girl: ‘I Got A Snake Sitting Under My Desk Here’
State Rep. Ernest Hewett (D-CT) was stripped of his leadership position as Deputy Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives this week after he was caught on tape making an inappropriate remark to a high school student testifying before a legislative committee.
The 17 year-old student was at the hearing to ask the committee to continue a funding to the Connecticut Science Center, where she said she was usually a very shy person but the Centers program enabled her to teach children about certain things like snakes.
When she was done testifying, Hewett told the teen " i)f youre bashful I got a snake sitting under my desk here."
full: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/01/1660811/lawmaker-makes-lewd-comment-to-17-year-old-girl-i-got-a-snake-sitting-under-my-desk-here/
See also Hartford Courant: "Legislator Accused Of Lewd Remark Loses His Deputy Speaker's Post"
Who should replace him, Neville Flynn?
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Sometimes you just have to sit back and wonder what the fuck is wrong with people.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)think something like that is appropriate????
Response to alp227 (Original post)
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Enrique
(27,461 posts)it was at a public hearing, that would be inconceivable. Right?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)And he had brought it to work with him that day.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Skittles
(153,169 posts)haven't been able to come up with a logical explanation for what else it could mean
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)being outgoing, so he was making a comment like "If you're shy I'm the king of France", that sort of thing:
but even giving him 100% of the benefit of the doubt, it comes off sounding ALL kinds of wrong.
progree
(10,909 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)The 'explanation' sounded less plausible when I listened to the recording. The way he said it was kind of creepy.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)prairierose
(2,145 posts)because my first thought was pervert.
LadyHawkAZ
(6,199 posts)HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)can this be true? was he drunk?
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)That sort of thing should be left to professionals.
0rganism
(23,957 posts)How does someone smart enough to get elected make a comment so amazingly mind-bogglingly stupid?
Volaris
(10,272 posts)you just have to APPEAR to be smartER than the other guy. Which a lot of time, doesn't mean all that much.
0rganism
(23,957 posts)and still say something that stoopid... well, i'm having a hard time believing it. Maybe he was really drunk - falling-down drunk but not passing-out drunk.
dawg
(10,624 posts)and did so horribly and awkwardly.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)A reasonable interpretation of her comment is that she is normally shy (not fearful), but being able to teach children about things "like snakes" helps her in that regard, so she would like to see the Science center stay open.
The legislator is either terminally stupid or disgustingly indecent. Either is sufficient for him to be removed not just from his position but from his office. I hope that the CT voters do that, post haste.
dawg
(10,624 posts)I usually want to think the best of people and give them the benefit of the doubt, but that's just creepy.
Response to dawg (Reply #9)
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demwing
(16,916 posts)Is it possible the man was just stupidly ignorant of the street meaning of his words?
Maybe he was just being childish "Hey Susie, wanna see a BUG?
And then maybe he's just a perv?
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Quite inappropriate and tasteless.
Dr. Strange
(25,921 posts)I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking state representative!
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)OldDem2012
(3,526 posts)slackmaster
(60,567 posts)You know how dumb the average person is. Half of the people are even dumber than that.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)and ilk saying how everything is ok because he apologized to Jesus.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Initech
(100,081 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)I'm guessing the one-eyed trouser snake, but we'll have to send it to the lab to be sure.
Solly Mack
(90,773 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)I have so many things to add . . . but I'll limit it to one:
She was/is underage. He said that to a child!
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)So he wanted to scare/bully the young woman? What a fucking Moran.
petronius
(26,602 posts)- She probably was nervous testifying in front of a committee,
- She had implied that she was less nervous teaching about snakes,
- So, the joke may have been that he was pretending to be able to provide her with a genuine snake (that is, a member of class reptilia, order squamata, suborder serpentes) - had he said "in my briefcase" or something, it would have been OK.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)My favorite Hail Mary recovery attempt is in the classic joke:
I was at lunch with a client having a few drinks. There was a Green Bay Packers game on the TV. I said to my client "Only whores and football players live in Green Bay."
He said "My mother lives in Green Bay."
I asked "What position does she play?"
Sissyk
(12,665 posts)Creepy crawly fucked up.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)JBoy
(8,021 posts)Need Jim Ward to do this in his Squeezie McFeelPants voice.
That's just creepy.
mythology
(9,527 posts)It really frustrates me when stupidity isn't punished.
progree
(10,909 posts)"I purposely will not have female interns. My intern now is a male. I want to keep it like that. I've had female interns in the past that sit in my office all day. I thought it was totally weird and I didn't want another. As a matter of fact, I went four, maybe six years without having an intern at all because of stuff like that. I have a male intern, the last two I've had were male."
He went on to say that he could not choose to hire only male interns, but would prefer not to be assigned females, because "that way that keeps me good and that keeps everybody else good."
... What Hewett meant by his comment in the first place is still not entirely clear. He claims it simply came out wrong, and some journalists have argued that his intentions were innocent, and that the comment was merely odd, not inappropriate. Dave Weigel at Slate, for example, argues that Hewett is is "completely getting railroaded," and is the victim of an "overreaction to an errant word."
(Some may respectfully disagree)
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/02/ernest-hewett-female-interns_n_2798849.html
On edit: corrected the above link. Duh. Sorry.