Brodkorb's Law Suit is Necessary

WHY is it necessary?  Because we should have ONE standard for all of our politicians, regardless of party affiliation.

Because Republicans, the party which loves to give empty lip service to family values when it supports their bigotry, but never when it matters, and NEVER when they are responsible for violating family values, THOSE Republicans will hide and obstruct any attempt to hold the participants and the members of their party in the legislature accountable.
Brodkorb threatened to blow the lid off the hot steamy sex at the capital.  Brodkorb specifically is challenging that the people having hot steamy sex at the capital are male legislators having sex with female staffers, apparently, because he is attempting to make the case that is dealt with differently, according to a double standard where men get a pass with having illicit sex with women, but that it is not the case with women who have sex with men.  That may be correct; we don't know about those cases, but presumably Brodkorb's was not the only hanky-panky.  And Brodkorb, a specialist in sleaze would know; he made his bones on other people's scandals.  Admittedly, he was often lying or exaggerating those scandals.  He had a different standard for scandals involving democrats, and apparently for behavior by other people than himself.  Brodkorb was nothing if not holier than thou when pointing at other people while doing as bad or worse things himself - very much like the Nut job Gingrich in the days of the Clinton incident.  Clinton was wrong; Gingrich was worse.

Now, those same Republicans that employed Brodkorb to be their dirty dealer are fighting hard against holding their own associates accountable.  They have let Amy Koch off the hook; no ethics investigation for her.  Do you think for a heartbeat that would be true if she were a Democrat? I don't.

Their explanation is that 'it is in the past'.  SO WHAT? They didn't have an ethics violation when it was happening either, and other than Amy Koch voluntarily resigning, there were no consequences, no public censure, nothing.  Being 'in the past' is not an excuse for strenuously avoiding an ethics investigation and a sanction, a penalty, a consequence.

Brodkorb was the subordinate, and he received a far, far more severe punishment than Koch did.  The problem here is not that male staffers are treated differently than female staffers in receiving punishment.  It is that superiors are treated differently than staffers in receiving consequences.  It is that Republicans are treated differently than Democrats.  It is that hypocrisy and secrecy and privilege are occurring for the family values legislators who aren't acting in family values ways by having office adulteries in our state capital, while receiving salaries paid for by taxpayer dollars.  A statement from the PiPress online sums it up:

"We had to be very careful, and very mindful and...I really tried to bend over backwards to not reveal identities, to not give precise timelines, and I do not believe I was false or misleading or did anything to dishonor the Senate," he said.

I don't believe that there would have been a similar effort to avoid revealing identities had the participants been /Democrats, and I don't believe that withholding identities was desirable.  It obscured transparency, and in turn obscuring that honesty about what happened allowed for preventing accountability.  Brodkorb appears to have been scapegoated, given his subordinate position.  Other men in superior positions aren't fired, and other women in subordinate positions aren't fired.  Amy Koch wasn't fired, effectively; she continues to keep her job.  That is not sexism; that is crooked elitism, that is partisan privilege, and it is wrong and it is corrupt.

This is a problem with Republicans NOT HOLDING THEMSELVES ACCOUNTABLE TO THE STANDARDS THEY PROFESS AND THE STANDARDS TO WHICH THEY PENALIZE OTHERS.

This is one more case of failed Republican Government, and one more case of false Republican values, and one more case of blatant Republican hypocrisy.  Republicans talk a big values talk, they hold big noisy hypocrite Values summits where  they pat each other on the back for their morals.  And then they return to government and put those morals back in their little dusty cardboard boxes and stuff them back under their beds.

Put those values you claim to have back on the desk, back on the table, and use them for a change, Republicans.  Hold staffer and superior EQUALLY accountable.  Stop covering up for the other inappropriate relationships.  Support the ethics investigation of Koch, support the ethics complaint about the cover up.  That is why Brodkorb shouldn't receive a dime, but his law suit should proceed.

Michael Brodkorb, Update

Earlier, in a sarcastic parody of the kind of behavior condoned, or at best only very mildly demurred by the far right wing (including our current GOP contestants for Presidential candidate) when it was done by Rush Limbaugh.

In point of fact, Michael Brodkorb isn't precisely trying to get paid for having sex.  He's trying to extort money for getting fired for having sex, on the pretext that he was treated differently than other staffers who had inappropriate sexual relationships, on the basis of gender.  In that direction, he has now filed the necessary paperwork required for a law suit.

The reality is that any comparison between Michael Brodkorb is superficial.  No other staffer was even remotely like him, and while nominally subordinate, he was a power player in the Republican caucus out of all proportion to his nominal title and duties.  It was in the course of fulfilling those duties that he over-reached, and went too far, in addition to the adultery in which he engaged.

Michael Brodkorb was a sleazy, bullying, and not particularly honest jerk on his blog, behavior which got him sued back in 2006.  Michael Brodkorb was a sleazy, bullying husband, and that caused his wife and kids to call the cops on him for verbal abuse and violent domestic behavior that broke a door frame in 2011.  And now Michael Brodkorb is playing his same one trick pony act on his former buddies in the Republican party.  I hope they have the balls to stand up to him; I hope they have the sense not to spend taxpayer money on their error in judgment in ever associating with Brodkorb.  Brodkorb has shown his true colors; he believes he will bounce back from his disgrace.  He might be right, but anyone who joins him in that happening should remember Brodkorb is long on nasty, but very short on loyalty.  That is a dangerous and ugly combination.  Anyone who gives his hand to Brodkorb gets what they deserve.

I almost feel pity for Amy Koch; I DO feel pity for Brodkorb's wife and kids.  Hopefully for them, they'll learn the same lessons as his partner in adultery and his partners in politics, and dump him - permanently.

The City Pages covered the news here:
Minnesota Politics

Michael Brodkorb files paperwork to begin lawsuit against Minnesota SenateBy Gregory PrattWed., Mar. 21 2012 at 3:45 PM

 

Michael Brodkorb took the first step toward filing a federal discrimination lawsuit

​Michael Brodkorb declined to take questions at a press conference this afternoon announcing that he has filed paperwork with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to begin a lawsuit against the Minnesota Senate.Through his attorney Gregory Walsh, Brodkorb announced that he will be suing Secretary of the Senate Cal Ludeman for defamation after Ludeman accused Brodkorb of trying to "extort" a payment.
Walsh said the Senate has been "unwilling" to move the process along so they've filed a request with the EEOC for a "right-to-sue" notice, a necessary first step to formally filing a federal gender discrimination lawsuit.
"Our goal is to have the Senate agree to mediation," Walsh said.
That, Walsh said, is nothing new. Brodkorb's goal has always been to "get quietly to the table."

Cal Ludeman fired Michael Brodkorb, then he accused him of extorting the Minnesota Senate

​Brodkorb was fired by the Minnesota Senate last December, following former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch's resignation after her fellow Republicans confronted her with allegations she was having an affair with Brodkorb.
Brodkorb claims his termination amounts to gender discrimination and has said he will depose female staffers who have had affairs with male legislators to prove his claim.
Secretary of the Senate Ludeman personally fired Brodkorb last December at the Moose Country restaurant in Lilydale.
A Republican senator spoke to City Pages earlier this week and said Brodkorb wasn't fired for having an affair with Amy Koch.
According to that senator, Brodkorb had been protected by Koch from being punished for "abusive" behavior around the statehouse even though "numerous" senators complained about the former Senate Republican caucus communications director.
Brodkorb has denied those claims.
Previous

• Amy Koch had "inappropriate relationship" with ... Michael Brodkorb?

• Amy Koch apologizes for "engaging in a relationship with a Senate staffer"

• Michael Brodkorb confirms Amy Koch affair

• The Amy Koch Affair

• Gay community apologizes to Amy Koch for ruining her marriage

• Michael Brodkorb lawyers up, may pursue legal action

• Michael Brodkorb alleges gender bias [UPDATE]

• Michael Brodkorb domestic dispute: Wife called 911
• Michael Brodkorb created a hostile work environment, Republican senator says
• Michael Brodkorb denies creating a hostile work environment
• Geoff Michel lied about Brodkorb's affair with Koch, complaint says

Related Content

• Amy Koch Affair December 21, 2011
• Michael Brodkorb created a hostile work environment, Republican senator says March 19, 2012
• Michael Brodkorb lawyers up, may pursue legal action following termination from Senate January 30, 2012
• Michael Brodkorb confirms Amy Koch affair March 14, 2012
• Amy Koch had "inappropriate relationship" with senate staffer. Was it Michael Brodkorb? December 16, 2011

Family Values and Hypocrisy in Politics

I don't think that either party should be making the dubious claim of being more 'family value' oriented or more moral than the political parties supported by other people.  The reality is that all of us are a mix of good and bad, and that anyone who tries to assert they are superior to other people is likely to find themselves as a group to be embarrassed by their members.  Whether it is this guy, or the state legislator who cheated on her marriage, or the state chair who stiffed counties for the recount costs and left the party with a huge amount of debt (so much for fiscal responsiblity), it is possible to posit a political position without this smug holier than thou crap from the republicans and the tea partiers.

It's not like there aren't people across the political spectrum who let power go to their head; there are.  Elliot Spitzer is a prime example.  But he has shown far more remorse and subsequent humility than this lot of holier than thou hypocrites.

This seems particularly classic as we have the pious hypocrite the Nut Gingrich prancing about the national stage in his vindictive, imperious over reaching classic manner, a style which has not changed from the era when he was critical of the lesser misconduct of President Bill Clinton, while having an extended and more serious affair of his own.  I note that whatever Clinton did, and he should certainly not have had the relationships with women that he did, he remained married to Hilary, and certainly as regards Monica Lewinsky, his sexual misconduct did not go as far, as that of the Hypocrite Supreme, serial cheater, and dishonest, censured politician, Nut Gingrich.

I see nothing more moral in the right wing support for the Nut Gingrich than I see in them having had this creepy homosexual pedophile for a political committee boss. 

Via MSNBC.com

NJ school official quits amid charges he videotaped boys in shower

Somerset Co. Prosecutor's Office / AP
Patrick J. Lott, of Somerville, N.J., an assistant principal at a public middle school, allegedly secretly video recorded teenage boys in the shower at Immaculata High School in Somerville for nearly three years.



BENARDSVILLE, N.J. -- A middle school assistant principal has quit his job after being jailed on accusations of secretly video recording teenage boys at a Catholic high school where he volunteered as a coach, officials said Saturday.
Patrick Lott, 54, submitted his letter of resignation dated Jan. 27 from his job at Bernardsville Middle School, and the Somerset Hills Regional School District board accepted it Thursday, Superintendent Peter Miller told The Star-Ledger newspaper.
Lott allegedly recorded 22 boys showering, including nine under age 16, beginning in January 2008 at Immaculata High School in Somerville, where he was a basketball coach and a volunteer, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office says.
Authorities have not commented on how Lott allegedly installed cameras at the high school.
Lott, also active in local and county politics, is the former chairman of the Somerville Republican Committee.He remains jailed on $500,000 bail in Somerset County jail.
Video recordings were recovered from his home before his Dec. 23 arrest, officials said.
The school district placed him on unpaid leave from his $120,000-a-year job on Jan. 9.

Multiple Convictions of Voter Fraud by the Republican Secretary of State of Indiana

"If we aren't going to enforce election law against the secretary of state of Indiana, who are we going to enforce it against?" Sigler said.

Brizzi, White's attorney, rested Thursday without presenting a defense.

The Republicans are consistently trying to pass more exclusionary voting laws, laws which appear to disenfranchise those groups who are more likely to vote for democratic candidates than for conservative candidates.

So it is in that context that the convictions of the Indiana Secretary of State is particularly poignant.  I think we can fairly say the entire Republican effort to make it harder to vote is an attempt to game the system, to create a false problem, and then create a solution that is an expansion of government, an intrusion by government that serves their partisan purposes.

This wasn't just ordinary voter fraud, this was voter fraud committed by the person the Republicans ran to be the top person in the state who should have been responsible for PREVENTING voter fraud. Instead, he was committing it.  And Republicans KEPT HIM ON THE JOB as long as they possibly could, which suggests they support voter fraud.  They certainly did nothing to prevent it, they did nothing to acknowledge the concerns raised by the prosecution of this man for voter fraud.  It is precisely because White's claims of NOT living at the condo address were PROVEN false that he has perjury convictions.

Bottom line, when it benefits their political agenda, Republicans do not really care a damn about voter fraud, so long as it benefits them.  They are hypocrites who would emphatically have called for the removal of a Democratic Secretary of State during such a prosecution, and this Republican Secretary of State, and the Republicans nationwide would have happily accused and prosecuted others for this, but when it was one of their own, they kept him in office.  They knew that there were serious reasons to believe his election was not valid.  I applaud the prosecutor who did NOT allow politics to enter into this pursuit of justice.

But to now go further and try to claim the governor has the right to appoint the successor to someone who was not legally elected, who commited voter fraud, but to claim that clean elections are so important we must keep LARGE numbers of people from voting?

THAT is hypocrisy.

From the AP by way of  MSNBC.com
Yup - we're back!

Indiana election chief found guilty of voter fraud
'We believe it was about someone who violated the law and cheated the system — and gamed the system,' prosecutor says


By CHARLES WILSON

updated 2 hours 56 minutes ago 2012-02-04T13:00:33


Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges Saturday, leaving in flux the fate of one of the state's most powerful positions.


Republican Secretary of State Charlie White has held on to his office for more than a year despite being accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms.


A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge.


White expressed no outward emotion as the verdict was read, and later said outside the courtroom: "'I'm disappointed for my family and the people who supported me."


White and his attorneys said the fate of his elected post remains unknown and ultimately may have to be decided by the governor or state supreme court. "We will review our options," he said.


Record of public service


White's attorney, Carl Brizzi, said he will ask the judge to reduce the charges to misdemeanors because his client has no criminal background and has a long record of public service.


The jury verdict came after a weeklong trial in which White, who had vigorously protested the charges in hearings before a state elections panel, presented no defense.

Prosecutors said he used his ex-wife's address instead of a condo he had with his fiancee because he didn't want to give up his $1,000-per-month Fishers Town Council salary after moving out of that district. He faced seven felony charges, including voter fraud, perjury and theft.


White, 42, has said the charges ignored a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for the statewide office he won that November.


He said he stayed at his ex-wife's house when he wasn't on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after he remarried.


No sentencing date was set.

Republican special prosecutor John Dowd said he's also unsure about the fate of White's position, but expressed satisfaction about the verdict.


"We believe it was about someone who violated the law and cheated the system — and gamed the system," Dowd said. "And, obviously, the jury thought the same way."


State law bars anyone convicted of a felony from remaining in office. It wasn't immediately clear how quickly White could be replaced or who might succeed him.


Democrat replacement?


A Marion County judge already has ruled that White should be replaced by Democrat Vop Osili, the man he defeated by about 300,000 votes in the November 2010 election, but that ruling is on hold pending an appeal.


But state law allows the governor — in the case, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels — to appoint a successor.


White has resisted calls to resign from Democrats and Republicans, including Daniels.


Attorney Karen Celestino-Horseman, who watched the trial and spoke on behalf of Indiana Democrats following the verdict, said the party believes White's conviction further affirms that Osili should be secretary of state.


"(White) has been convicted, but the judge has left it open for misdemeanor sentencing. That's something that's going to have to be examined," she said.


During his closing arguments, assistant special prosecutor Dan Sigler Jr. argued that White knew that he was committing voter fraud but did it anyway for political power.


"If we aren't going to enforce election law against the secretary of state of Indiana, who are we going to enforce it against?" Sigler said.


Brizzi, White's attorney, rested Thursday without presenting a defense.


Brizzi told the jury during his closing arguments Friday that White's name was on the condo's bills and documents because he was paying for his fiancee and her children to live there, not because he was himself living at that address.


"Their case is based entirely on assumption, innuendo and leaps," Brizzi said.


White maintains he was staying at his ex-wife's house when he wasn't on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after his remarriage.