Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
We could not help but notice the juxtaposition of two different news stories this week. The first involves Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell (D-NJ), who was accused of sexually harassing at least one staffer, and also using his political influence to try to secure raises and promotions for his girlfriend. Gov. Mikie Sherrill's (D-NJ) administration hired the firm Lowenstein Sandler (with former NJ AG Christopher Porrino, who is on staff there, taking the lead) to look into the matter, and they released their final report a week ago. It's 61 pages, and kind of dry, but the conclusion is clear: Caldwell did what he was accused of doing.
Once the report was public, Sherrill demanded that Caldwell resign immediately, giving him a deadline of last Friday. The Governor cannot actually fire the Lieutenant Governor, but what she can do is strip him of all official duties, leaving him with, well, a bucket of warm pi** and not much else. Further, there was the strong implication that impeachment proceedings would be commenced if Caldwell did not read the writing on the wall. So, he threw in the towel and resigned.
After Caldwell's demise was official, Sherrill spoke to reporters and decreed: "The president continues to undermine confidence in public service at the federal level. In New Jersey, I will not accept a culture that sweeps misconduct under the rug." It's not universally true in all cases, but it's certainly largely true that Democrats don't tolerate sexual misconduct, even those penis crimes that are more like misdemeanors rather than felonies. One can make a pretty long list of Democrats whose heads have rolled as soon as they got enmeshed in sexual misconduct scandals: Al Franken, John Conyers Jr., Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, Eric Swalwell, Graham Platner, etc. And if you're placing your Kalshi bets, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) will be the next to go. We recognize, of course, that this is a more recent standard; the misdeeds of Bill Clinton in the 1990s were very much swept under the rug.
Meanwhile, it is also largely true that Republicans are far less likely to police their own. The fellow in the White House was elected to his current term after he was found to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and was described as a rapist by a judge in open court. Matt Gaetz was brought down by his corruption and his decision to resign in search of higher office, not his (alleged) sex trafficking. Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) is almost certainly guilty of felony-level crimes, but is running for reelection. Republicans can't kick him off the ballot, but they can expel him from the House if they wish. But they don't wish. They could also kick out Cory Mills (R-FL), who lost his primary because of his misconduct, but they haven't done that, either. Madison Cawthorn, Dennis Hastert and Roy Moore were also all done in by voters, not their fellow Republican politicians. And, of course, there are all the folks enmeshed in the Epstein scandal. The only GOP head to roll recently was Chuck Edwards (R-NC), although he's still in the House, too, until his term expires. If you want to go back 5 years, Van Taylor and Tom Reed also paid the price for their misdeeds (though only Reed resigned immediately).
And that brings us to the second story we note above. It's not so easy to expel a member of the House, so it's not entirely surprising that it doesn't happen very often, even when a member is forced to abandon their reelection bid. However, even the easy choices, Republicans don't seem to be interested in making. There was a MAHA summit in Washington yesterday. And one of the "honored guests" was actor and comedian Russell Brand, who has been accused of rape by six different women, and will face trial in the U.K. in just a few months.
One would think the administration would not invite an accused rapist until that person's name was cleared. Or, if they didn't know, you would think they would dis-invite him. But no, Brand was there with bells on yesterday, palling around with Robert Kennedy Jr. and J.D. Vance. He was also a member of a panel that included Trump administration member Dr. Mehmet Oz. And during that panel, Brand and Vance joked and laughed, and Brand even made a comment about how he hugged a female member of the administration backstage (Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins), but that the embrace was consensual (eye roll, and laugh, with Oz joining in).
Between the various birth-control-related policies, and the general indifference to sexual assault, the GOP is certainly developing quite the reputation for being hostile to women. We have no doubt that will play at least some role in November's elections. And if we're not at the point that this perception is almost permanently baked into the Party's rep, we've gotta be very close. (Z)