State Democratic Leadership Should be Ashamed

At the Connecticut General Assembly Appropriations committee meeting on February 20, 2013, the citizens of Connecticut got a display on how sexual harassment continues to rear its’ ugly head. We are quite familiar with how Ernest Hewett, a Democratic state representative from New London commented to a high school student that, "If you're bashful, I got a snake sitting under my desk here." He then clarified his comments at a later interview by saying "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."

 This issue has been extensively discussed in the media over the last several weeks, and serves as the most recent example of a Democratic leaders’ questionable social conduct. Recent history is littered with examples of Democratic impropriety towards women. They occur on a local level within Connecticut, and many notable examples on a national scale have had their share of media attention through the years. From these recent exploits to the most memorable with Bill Clinton and his extramarital affair, we have no shortage of examples of poor judgment. 

The Democratic party has miscast the GOP as waging a war on women. They have simultaneously billed themselves as the defender of gender equality. This initiative has been highly successful, driving a large voting bloc into the Democratic camp during the last election cycle. The hypocrisy therefore is striking when the behavior of individuals like Mr. Hewett come to light. It becomes all the more upsetting when we learn that people like him continue to hold positions of authority, and their behavior is tolerated so that one more Democrat may remain in office. Rather than confront this inappropriate conduct directly, the Democratic leadership has chosen to tacitly promote this misbehavior by ignoring it.

The GOP, despite what popular media espouses actually has a long history of promoting women’s rights and gender equality. Looking as far back as women’s suffrage with the passage of the constitution’s 19^th amendment, Republicans have often been the drivers of such change. Connecticut was interestingly one of the last states to ratify women’s suffrage, acquiescing only once the amendment had legally been ratified in 36 other states. Looking at Connecticut’s recent past, female Republican leaders such as Governor Jodi Rell and Congresswoman Nancy Johnson have shown that women play a central role in the GOP, and have a significant influence over the true direction of the party.

 At the end of the day, the Democratic leadership in Connecticut should be embarrassed. They have failed to uphold the values they claim to espouse, and are ultimately complicit in allowing this type of conduct. The bottom line is that individuals like Mr. Hewitt have no place in state government. The citizens of Connecticut should expect that boorish, inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated by any elected leaders. We can also see that by exploring some of the facts about our political parties and ignoring media driven rhetoric, impressions of our leadership are certainly subject to change.