Halloween is over, but the scary stuff is still around.
One of the scariest things we can think of here at GRITtv is a Senate without Russ Feingold, but that’s not the end of the creepy prospects in Wisconsin.
David King, the Republican nominee for secretary of state of Wisconsin, is running for a statewide constitutional office that is second in line to the governorship after the lieutenant governor. And he’s accused of rape.
A Tea Party favorite who appears at events with Ron Johnson, Feingold’s challenger for the Senate, King, who calls himself Apostle David King and runs a ministry called Milwaukee God Squad, has been sued by a woman who claims he got her so drunk that she passed out and then got her pregnant.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, her lawsuit is for battery, violation of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision, on the part of BuySeasons, where she was hired by King to work.
He’s denied the charges, of course, and it’ll be months before we know the truth. But it’s noteworthy that the story’s been out there in the Journal Sentinel for days with no national pick up to speak of.
King’s far from alone in the creep line up who made it to the ballot this election. There’s Rich Iott, the Republican Tea Party nominee for Congress from Ohio’s 9th District, who liked to dress up as a member of the Waffen-SS and called it harmless fun; the North Carolina candidate Ilario Pantano who was charged with murdering two unarmed civilians in Iraq when he was deployed. And in Wisconsin, an accused rapist.
The lesson? In a political climate of "sweep the bums out," there’s always the matter of who’s sweeping in. And elected or not, there’s the question of how so many creeps got so far. That’s the question that will last long after the election.
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.
