More Misssouri: Vulgar, Vulgar, Vulgar
A Supreme Court Judge makes an obscene gesture at mass one day, a congressman acts like a sexist asshole the next. And they say the left is uncivil. These people have no manners at all – how dare they presume to lecture anyone else?
(Oh, and Caspar Weinberger is dead, the BBC reports).
Veteran lawmaker makes suggestive comments to freshman
March 27, 2006
BY JOHN O’CONNOR ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPRINGFIELD — A veteran state senator made sexually suggestive comments to a freshman colleague Monday during the ritual “hazing” that occurs in debate over a rookie’s first bill.
Republican Cheryl Axley of Mount Prospect was offering legislation on road maintenance by township governments when Assistant Democratic Leader Rickey Hendon of Chicago suggested that Axley go “on a township road with me later on tonight.”
The presiding officer of the chamber, Sen. Debbie Halvorson of Crete, said the question was inappropriate and told Axley she was not obliged to answer.
Hendon then replied, “Madame President, don’t deny me my opportunity, here. I mean, she looks like she’s only 16 or 17, I might be able to trick her, or something.”
“All the more reason you shouldn’t be asking,” Halvorson said.
It has long been tradition for members of the General Assembly to “haze” newcomers when they present their first piece of legislation, peppering them with innocuous or highly technical questions. Other senators grilled Axley about the number of miles of township-maintained roads in the state and whether she’d traveled them all.
Axley, 46, who was appointed to fill the position of retiring Sen. Dave Sullivan, said “the girls tipped me off” that hazing comes with the territory and said she wasn’t surprised or offended.
“It was all in fun. Every freshman is hazed in that matter,” Axley said.
Asked whether men undergo the same treatment, Axley said, “I don’t know. I’ll keep my eye open next spring.”
Hendon, who also asked Axley whether her hair is naturally blonde, denied his comments were “over the line” or sexually suggestive.
“It was funny, I was trying to be funny. If anybody took offense, it was only you. She certainly didn’t,” Hendon, 52, a senator since 1993 and co-chairman of the Executive Appointments Committee, said when contacted later. “You jab, that’s what you do to rookies.”
When asked about his comment that Axley looks like a teenager and he might “trick” her, Hendon said, “She looks young. What’s bad about that? What’s over the line about saying she looks young? That’s a compliment, actually.”
Halvorson said she interrupted Hendon several times because she thought he had gone too far.
“He means nothing by it. That’s his way,” Halvorson said. “He likes to be funny; unfortunately, we might have to give him a little training.”
“Everybody got caught up in the moment,” Halvorson said. “And everybody knows that Sen. Axley is a beautiful, young woman, and sometimes men don’t think about what it (a comment) looks like.”
Mem to Senator Axley : that’s what they call ‘colluding in your own oppression’. Just so you know. But I doubt you care. You are a Republican after all.
Read More: US Politics Feminism Sexism
UPDATE Commenter NW burbs points out my error, for which I have no excuse but lazy fact-checking. My apologies and I’ll try to be a good little blogger in future.
Senator Rickey Hendon is a state Senator from Chicago, not a Congressman.
Senator Cheryl Axley is from northwest suburban Chicago.
Never let it be said we lefties don’t own up to our errors, unlike some we could mention.
