Which Hunt?: My e-mails to the New London Democratic Town Committee

It would seem that private e-mails to the New London Democratic Town Committee are of public domain. I don't know who took the liberty of forwarding my e-mails to Kathleen Mitchell for use in her recent blog post: "Witch Hunt," but as soon as she opted to quote me and frame my statements as illogical and part of some broad conspiracy, it became clear that I should release the e-mails in their entirety before my own words are used against me again for someone else's personal gain. I must release both of them, because the quote Kathleen chose is in both e-mails. Though it ultimately comes from the first e-mail, she frames it as though it originated in my second. These e-mails are unedited and I have only redacted e-mail addresses.

Note that my first e-mail was written after my inbox filled with e-mails between Allyn De Vars and various other DTC members. Allyn publicly called for Ernest Hewett's resignation, and made it known to the NLDTC in an e-mail without providing the full context of the controversy. After his e-mail, the first immediate response was from Jane Wickham, admitting she did "not know all the facts," but that she would support Ernest, saying "I have never witnessed Ernie say or do anything inappropriate to anyone especially women." She went on to say, "Your actions and comments Allyn, reek of politics, it is no hidden agenda that the people you align yourself to have tried to besmirch him." Four other DTC members echoed this e-mail, establishing their full support of Ernest and immediately disregarding any allegations against Ernest Hewett. I respect Jane's perspective and I recognize she may also have not intended for her e-mail to be made public, but since I feel I must release my e-mails unredacted, it is necessary to provide context because I directly respond to her in my first e-mail.

* * *

I'm sad to see that the NLDTC has begun this conversation midstream of what seems to be some private conversation (altercation) between Allyn and Peg. As a result, we've already begun what should be an intelligent and civil conversation with vaguely related character testimony's and blind accusations of political manipulation. Perhaps this is always how these gaffes affect the political sphere, but it doesn't mean its an appropriate way to address the situation.

There is no question that this is a serious misstep, but it saddens me when the most relevant and controversial headline out of the house is a [genitalia] joke. If it has overshadowed the rest of Representative Hewett's career in the eyes of the public, I feel badly for everyone. I feel badly that Representative Hewett's significant contributions might be overshadowed by one comment. I feel badly that this is the first issue in months that lights up our e-mail list, while both the state and the nation is sliding down a slippery slope into austerity. I feel badly that it was immediately used by the Republican party to call for his resignation. I feel badly that the tensions and fissures that already seem to run through the NLDTC since the Mayoral election are being stoked by this (I wasn't involved in the NLDTC before then, so I don't know how it was before). I do not believe that Representative Hewett foresaw the consequences of his statements when he made them. I believe he intended the comment to be more of a benign injection of humor than a chauvinistic reduction of the intern's value to that of a sexual object. Certainly he wouldn't have said it if he thought a bit longer before saying it. That being said, he should have thought a bit longer. It seems the affable sense of humor that has made Hewett so accessible to people and made him so likable has betrayed him and his constituents in this instance.

As a result of this, meaningful progress is once again distracted by political games. The Republicans have taken this opportunity to try and turn this into as serious an issue as possible, and they are already succeeding. We are fortunate enough to live in a time where women are becoming more empowered in a traditionally patriarchal society, but we are still fighting an uphill battle in a world where women still make less for doing the same kind of work and are still marginalized or sexually objectified in professional settings that remain dominated by males. Representative Hewett should further acknowledge these broader issues when he reflects on his gaffe in the future to realign the public's view of his position on such matters. I expect that he will be called upon again to do so, and I hope he responds with more eloquence and humility than to simply downplay his comment and say he meant to make a joke about the Everglades. The Republican party has consistently been on the wrong side of this fight, and they know by now that associating their "conservative values" with sexual discrimination is hurting their party politically and alienating people. Whether they truly feel offended by Hewett's remarks or feel he was intentionally making a sexual provocation at all is almost irrelevant, because this is being used as a tool for their agenda, regardless. This is why such gaffes, benign or not, can regularly define the ends and beginnings of political careers, and shift power between parties.

That being said, it is already seems that it might be too much to hope that the very same thing will not happen within our own party. There is no question that many are rightly directly offended by this remark. When I first read the abridged story about it in The Day, it came across as terribly offensive, and upon further exploration and more thorough reporting form the Patch, I could see how it might be intended to be topical humor in context. The intern herself didn't even detect the innuendo until she revisited the audio. Blame it on the media. Blame it on our own collective obsession with sensationalist controversies that distract from meaningful issues and perpetuate yellow journalism and a media increasingly focused on sound bites and memes. This issue made it all the way to the Huffington Post, thanks to such a culture. Ultimately, we are all already aware of this trend, and the responsibility falls on Representative Hewett for this mistake. It was still, at it's core, easily interpreted by most as a [genitalia] joke, and inappropriate. He has already apologized and acknowledged much of the damage caused by this remark, and I'm thankful for that, though I believe he can do more. I respect and empathize with Allyn's position, but I personally don't think it is constructive for Allyn to so quickly address this issue in the same antagonistic manner as GOP chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. I would rather hope that Representative Hewett is given the chance to act for the betterment of his supporters as he has consistently done in the past without his constituents throwing accusations back and forth at each other. This issue cannot be allowed to stand in the way of saving our educational system or mitigating the constant erosion of our economy. I think if we help each other to see the larger picture and give him the chance to address it, he will do what is best for his position and it's functionality in the government. He will be better equipped to do so if we can approach this issue intelligently and pragmatically without putting each other on the defensive, and not allow it to further splinter our own party by leveraging it against each other's perceived allegiances, because we already know the Republicans are doing their best to do that for us.

Since I am already aware that many in the DTC probably associate me with Allyn much as they associate him with the current administration because of my support for the Mayor, I'd also like to add that this is my personal opinion, and I have no interest in using this issue to further some ulterior political conspiracy, whether one exists or not. As much as I disagree with Allyn's response, I also disagree with the reactionary accusations of Jane Wickham and the seemingly automatic association of Allyn's opinion with some vague grouping, which seems like it might include the Mayor and/or myself, since we are people he "associates with" on occasion. If it's "no hidden agenda," I'd like to be enlightened as to what that agenda is. I hope that this conversation doesn't continue to degrade into such suggestive polarized posturing.

I hope Representative Hewett can navigate his way through this issue with perspective, thoughtfulness, and humility, and I hope that his comment is not allowed to significantly degrade his legacy, but more importantly, our collective legacy as a party that represents equality, individual empowerment, and a strong focus on the economic and environmental crises that we face.

* * *

It wasn't until after I wrote that first e-mail that additional information came to light that changed my position. Because my position changed, I felt it necessary to follow up on my previous e-mail:

* * *

I want to follow up on my previous e-mail because my perspective on the matter has changed and so has my position.
Ernest has made some additional statements, and the media is obsessed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/02/ernest-hewett-female-interns_n_2798849.html

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Huffington post, you should be aware that "In 2012, The Huffington Post became the first commercially run, United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize.^[12] In July 2012, The Huffington Post was ranked #1 on the 15 Most Popular Political Sites list by eBizMBA Rank, which bases its list on each site's Alexa Global Traffic Rank and U.S. Traffic Rank from both Compete and Quantcast"

Every democrat in the nation reads this.

"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."

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-hewett-comments-0302-20130301,0,344858.story?page=1

This is really embarrassing for all of us on the NLDTC.
This is not the eloquence and perspective I was hoping for.

There is a reason you are not allowed to only hire male interns. It is sexual discrimination and punishes women for your own shortcoming.
You don't protect interns from your own inability to control your urge to make sexual innuendos by not hiring them at all.
That punishes all of the interns. It doesn't make everybody else "good."
You hire interns regardless of their sex, and you control your language and you act like an adult and you don't let your urges distract you from the more relevant contributions they offer in a professional setting. If you can't do that, than you are the one that should be removed from the situation, not the intern that makes you feel "weird."

Ernie's statement has a "blaming the victim" mentality written all over it.
If Ernest doesn't understand what is wrong with his statement, I would ask him to imagine that statement came out of the mouth of another person. I would then ask him to take all the times he said "female" and replace it with "black," and replace "male" with "white." Maybe he'll finally get it.

Today in The Day, I read this:

http://www.theday.com/article/20130305/NWS12/130309834/1017

"Hewett did not meet this afternoon with female members of the Democratic Caucus today to explain his comments to a teenager who had testified during a committee hearing.

Hewett was stripped of his deputy speaker post as a result of the comment and was supposed to meet today with female caucus members.

But in a letter to Rep. Brendan Sharkey, speaker of the House, dated Monday, Hewett wrote, "... I consider this matter closed and I will not be appearing before the Democratic Caucus tomorrow as you have requested."
. . .

"State Rep. Mae Flexer, D-Danielson, said Monday that Hewett, a New London, Democrat, was not assigned female interns because of a “history of bad behavior” involving interns."

The matter is not closed, especially after the statements spread across the nation on Huffington Post. He disrespects the entire female caucus and thinks this is going to go away? I think by skipping that meeting, he may have lost is last chance to recover from this. He is making things worse for himself with each day that passes.

If Ernest doesn't understand the error of his logic, he is not likely to ever talk his way to a re-election. If his statements reflect what he honestly thinks, I cannot support him. If, as Rep. Mae Flexer claims, there is more evidence of blatant sexual discrimination or harassment that might be unearthed in the coming weeks, this will continue getting worse. I said in my previous e-mail that "This issue cannot be allowed to stand in the way of saving our educational system or mitigating the constant erosion of our economy." I fear Ernest Hewett's words and actions have done just that, and hindered his ability to represent us.

This is a painful circus to watch. I think Ernest Hewett should resign, and I think it would be in his own best interest to do so before we read about his "history of bad behavior" in The Day, or worse yet, the Huffington Post.

* * *

So there it is, the full evolution of my perspective on the issue. It wasn't intended to be a public comment, and I would have addressed the issue differently if I intended my audience to include the public. My preference was to promote more civil discourse within the NLDTC after an inflammatory exchange, though no one on the NLDTC has responded to these e-mails. I did not intend to publicly call for Ernest's resignation, but since someone chose to send my e-mails to Kathleen and she has taken the liberty of revealing my position, I will stand by it. I would not assume that Ernest was guilty of sexual discrimination simply because of someone's accusation, but it was his own choice of words when he said "I purposely will not have female interns." I will not continue to support someone who thinks that is OK. You can judge for yourselves if these e-mails reveal an agenda motivated by something less scrupulous than protecting civil rights.