* Background is here in case you missed it. From the ILGOP…
In light of tweets and paid advertising from Betsy Dirksen Londrigan and EMILY’s List spreading false information against Congressman Rodney Davis about what was said in a House Committee hearing on Tuesday, Erika Harold, Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, and Avery Bourne issued the following statements calling on Londrigan and EMILY’s List to apologize to Davis:
“Sexual harassment is not a partisan issue, and the continued misrepresentation of Congressman Davis’ position does a disservice to the constituents who care about this issue and makes it more difficult to find the common ground needed to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan and Stephanie Schriock should immediately issue a statement retracting their misrepresentations and join in the bipartisan efforts to protect women from sexual harassment.” - Republican candidate for Attorney General Erika Harold
“As someone who has experienced sexual harassment, I commend Congressman Davis for speaking out about this very serious topic. I believe Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, Stephanie Schriock, and others who are politicizing this issue need to apologize to Congressman Davis and get to work on solutions that will protect women in the workplace.” - State Representative Sara Wojcicki Jimenez
“I have worked for Congressman Davis and I know that he is an advocate for women seeking public office and an advocate of having strong female leadership on staff. Just last year, during my own campaign, I dealt with opposition spreading false information and lies about me. Since then, I have pushed for campaigns to be about issues – not spreading false information to voters. It is unfortunate that Betsy Dirksen Londrigan has decided to go down this path of personal and false attacks. I urge her, as well as her ally, EMILY’s List, to issue an apology to Congressman Davis right away.” - State Representative Avery Bourne
- Annonin' - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:23 pm:
Perhaps they could quiz Rodney on why he launched this rather peculiar theory of a possible outcome of sexual harassment issues?
He appears to be the only person on the planet who cam up with this one.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:24 pm:
Now they’re jumping the shark with Cousin Oliver sitting on The Fonz’s shoulders.
- ughhh - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:28 pm:
https://capitolfax.com/2017/11/15/question-of-the-day-2587/#comments
77% of Cap Fax Readers that were surveyed agree.
- JohnnyPyleDriver - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
Yea, stop politicizing this issue!
::issues partisan press release::
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
I am sure EMILY List too busy going after Al Frankin to apologize now
- Chris Widger - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:40 pm:
I think they should not apologize, because apologizing doesn’t advance their interests, and there’s no reason to do anything else. That’s the climate. I actually think it’s irresponsible to spend any resources calling for an apology that could be better spent also spreading false information.
- Anon E. Moose - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:46 pm:
Let’s keep the focus on the victims of harassment, shall we?
- Pyrman - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:52 pm:
Their demand for an apology would carry more weight if they made the same demand of their governor for spreading misinformation about the Speaker
- Really? - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:52 pm:
Still several months until primary- Londrigan would be smart to apologize and regroup after the holidays. If she doesn’t it is very clear she is not ready for a congressional run.
- Gooner - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 12:54 pm:
This sort of “I’m offended too and I want an apology” makes candidates and electeds look pathetic.
The Congressman was the one who the comments were aimed at. He gets the apology. Harold? Oh, she’s offended too? Really? Oh, so sad.
- toothlesstiger - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:03 pm:
Is this same group offended by Rauner’s behavior when he didn’t know the mic was hot before one of his “Facebook Live” events?
From the Tribune:
The setup: Rauner complimented the attire of an off-camera female aide, saying, “You’ve got that good red dress going. It’s a good … very …”
The aide responded that it was “a day of love,” and lamented that her boyfriend had moved to Chicago and that it would be “just me and my dog tonight.”
“Are you going to wish everyone Happy Valentine’s Day?” the aide asked Rauner. The governor replied, “I wasn’t, but now maybe I will.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-valentines-day-met-story.html
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:10 pm:
==threatening the victims with loss of job opportunities isn’t very supportive. ==
Please cite where Rodney Davis ever did this. He was discussing concerns his female staffers had expressed to him as an example of what should NOT happen or be tolerated to further discussion.
You’re as bad as his opponent.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:27 pm:
“You got that good red dress going” is offensive?
- Tired of Uninformed - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:41 pm:
- Annonin’ @ 12:23 -
Davis didn’t “come up with it” and they don’t have to quiz him because it has already been stated why he said this. His strongly female-led staff expressed the concern of this issue to him, so he brought it to forefront.
- Behind the Scenes - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:46 pm:
Agree they should apologize to Davis. Not gonna hold my breath… I’m told I wouldn’t look good in that shade of dark blue.
- Sigh - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:51 pm:
Da Big Bad Wolf- if you look at his entire comment, it would be considered inappropriate for a male boss to be saying to a female employee. He did say oh, that’s a nice dress. He said “You’ve got that good red dress going. It’s a good … very …” There is a difference between a compliment and a compliment that is creepy- “good red dress going. It’s good.. very..”
- Can - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 1:58 pm:
Are these three worried that this is not a safe seat? People must be concerned about some type of wave for Democrats next year. Interesting.
- Yiddishcowboy - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:00 pm:
@Annonin: Please stop with this nonsense. Nothing that Cong. Davis said can remotely be interpreted to mean he’s for less females being hired as staffers. Period. If you don’t see a problem with Londrigan’s quick, knee-jerk response, then you just might be part of the problem.
- Anon - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:00 pm:
Why are we only focusing on Betsy’s response? Just because she’s a woman and has a real, tangible stake in the conversation? This is just another attack on a woman speaking up for equality. Where are these peoples demand for an apology from Erik Jones, who also condemned Davis’ comments? This is just another example of the double standards the GOP hold women to.
- m - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:03 pm:
=Why are we only focusing on Betsy’s response? Just because she’s a woman and has a real, tangible stake in the conversation? This is just another attack on a woman speaking up for equality. Where are these peoples demand for an apology from Erik Jones, who also condemned Davis’ comments? This is just another example of the double standards the GOP hold women to.=
I’m having a hard time figuring out if this is serious or satire.
- m - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:06 pm:
=There is a difference between a compliment and a compliment that is creepy=
Watch the video, he looks like he’s awkwardly making small talk while doing three things at once.
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:09 pm:
Anon - if Ms. Londrigan had stated something more measured and along the lines of Congressman Davis needing to choose his words a bit more carefully then you MIGHT have a point. Instead she went into full-on, in-your-face, “Rodney Davis is the worst (exclamation point)” attack mode. With everything going on in relation to this subject and there not being a lot of central Illinois news right now it started a firestorm. And rightfully so.
- Dr. M - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:23 pm:
Londrigan should acknowledge that she shared Davis’ comments out of context and then shift her attention to the seriousness of the concerns raised by Davis’ staff - and what she intends to do about them. That’s how you recover from this silly manipulation of reality on her part.
Ironically, liberals aired similar concerns about women being treated unfairly when they learned about Mike Pence’s various (odd, but now I guess understandable) rules for mixed company. They were concerned that Pence’s refusal to dine alone with any woman other than his wife, or attend “booze parties” where women are present, would result in fewer women gaining access to his inner circle, and resultantly opportunities for mentorship and promotion.
Davis’ staff is right to worry that some employers may respond to the heightened attention to sexual harassment, as well as the “drip, drip, drip” of forthcoming allegations, by hiring fewer women (or declining to invite them to happy hour, or other networking opportunities that might present risks of an interaction being deemed inappropriate).
I think the reason so many feminists bristled at the comments, in addition to them being offered out of context, is that they thought Davis was diminishing the seriousness of sexual harassment claims by saying that the [potential] unintended effect might be worse than having never alerted ourselves to the prevalence of sexual harassment in the first place. I don’t think Mr. Davis believes this, and I certainly hope his female staff would prefer an environment where harassment claims are taken seriously, rather than going back to the old way of doing business (smile and take it).
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:27 pm:
Dr. M - thank you for bringing up Pence’s “rule”. The Revered Billy Graham had that policy as well and it obviously served him well. Pence does some odd things but emulating one of Billy Graham’s principled stands is not one of them.
- ILPundit - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
By all means, let’s have GOP-ers start calling for apologies over tweets. I can think of several hundred misogynistic Trump tweets that these guys never condemned.
Beware the slippery slope
- Sands - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 2:39 pm:
Londrigan still has the comment posted on her facebook page. To those of you saying she shouldn’t apologize, is it OK to keep the lie going? Did any of you read the context of what/why he said what he said? Wow.
- Colin O'Scopey - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:09 pm:
I must admit, this thread has apparently has brought out the Davis for Congress staff in droves. They don’t realize it but by keeping this issue alive, they are giving the Londrigan campaign a lot more exposure than she normally would have received at this juncture. Keep up the good work.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
To apologize is weakness, and Emily’s List women aren’t weak. Besides it might hurt our bottom line.
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:18 pm:
3:10 - that is ridiculous. Apologizing to others after you have hurt them or done them wrong is not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength.
- Reaganing - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:24 pm:
@ 2:03
Knowing the track record here, I would wager that is not satire.
- m - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:38 pm:
=I think the reason so many feminists bristled at the comments, in addition to them being offered out of context, is that they thought Davis was diminishing the seriousness of sexual harassment claims by saying that the [potential] unintended effect might be worse than having never alerted ourselves to the prevalence of sexual harassment in the first place. I don’t think Mr. Davis believes this, and I certainly hope his female staff would prefer an environment where harassment claims are taken seriously, rather than going back to the old way of doing business (smile and take it).=
Don’t be naive. They bristled because it came from a Republican. If a prominent Democrat had said it, the response would have been much different. i.e. “Rep blah blah highlighted a potential issue….”
=Londrigan still has the comment posted on her facebook page.=
Yep. What happened to all the outrage over those false ads against Manar that kept running on facebook?
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 3:56 pm:
===Londrigan still has the comment posted on her facebook page. To those of you saying she shouldn’t apologize, is it OK to keep the lie going? Did any of you read the context of what/why he said what he said?===
No she shouldn’t apologize and yes, she should keep it going. And unfortunately, no, the context does not matter. In today’s political landscape, you never apologize for a dishonest attack on your opponent - you double down. This is what our president and his supporters (which include Jimenez, Bourne and Harold) believe. This is also what Bruce Rauner believes. Why should Londrigan be held to a different standard?
Did Bourne, Jimenez or Harold issue demands for an apology from the Christian county GOP for their completely fabricated fb attack on Andy Manar just last month? No, they didn’t. Like it or not, trump and his supporters have caused a new paradigm to open in politics - truth doesn’t matter, only what people will believe matters.
- Really? - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 4:26 pm:
Lester Holt, Christian Co. GOP did apologize.
- Really? - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 4:28 pm:
http://www.sj-r.com/opinion/20171028/bernard-schoenburg-bill-seeks-to-shed-light-on-social-media-political-ads
- Ignatius J. Reilly - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 4:59 pm:
Betsy is what you get when you let Dick Durbin hand-pick congressional candidates.
- Workin' - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 5:26 pm:
Rodney and team feeling the heat.
- Lester Holt’s Mustache - Thursday, Nov 16, 17 @ 7:17 pm:
==Lester Holt, Christian Co. GOP did apologize==
They did, yes. The point I was making was that these three did not issue a press release demanding they do so. We’ve gotten to this weird place in politics where if your team does something wrong or unethical, we immediately demand apologies and issue fundraising calls over whatever the topic is - but if my team does it, it’s either acceptable because “reasons” or it’s ignored entirely. Hypocrisy certainly isn’t new in politics, but it’s now become expected to not only engage in it but to profit from it as well.
Whether we like it or not that is the new normal, and I say Dems should adapt to this new reality (which apparently Londrigan has) instead of whining about the unfairness of it.