Katie Hill, D-CA-25, just announced her resignation after having a threesome with a female campaign staffer and someone else her soon-to-be-ex husband, being accused of having an affair with her legislative director, and after having nude photos leaked to RedState. Hill had previously blamed her soon-to-be-ex husband for leaking the photos and also making accusations about Hill as part of an apparently very acrimonious divorce.
Hill had flipped CA-25 in 2018, which is rated as PVI of Even. Hopefully, another Democrat who isn’t fucking his or her staff will be able to win the special election.
California Burning – Open Thread
SiubhanDuinne
Oh FFS.
Mary G
I feel terrible for her, don’t think she should have resigned until Duncan Hunter does, and hate her ex-husband. It’s still idiotic to sleep with subordinates as she is alleged to have done.
Mary G
Women of Twitter are fired up:
Sister Golden Bear
And Duncan Hunter is resigning when?
I forgot… IOKIYR.
It’s extra sucky because Hill was one of the few openly bisexual members of Congress.
Areyougonnaeatthatsandwich
Truly frustrating. A lot of us worked hard to flip that seat last year and she clearly should have known better. Also surprising, since she never displayed this kind of hubris in (admittedly brief) interactions with her during the campaign.
We’d better be able to hold this seat. Jeez.
Immanentize
I am against her resignation. No man would resign under such circumstances. Why can’t people have the sex lives they want?!
And who let it all slip? Her ex abusive husband?
Upset.
Immanentize
@Areyougonnaeatthatsandwich:
So, it’s about you?
[Individual 1] mistermix
@Immanentize: I’d agree with you if she hadn’t had at least one affair (and maybe more) with staff. That’s rightly against the rules of the House, and even if the woman was campaign staff, that’s still pretty dumb.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
meanwhile, a man accused of rape by (among others) his first wife, in a sworn deposition…
Areyougonnaeatthatsandwich
@Immanentize: Interesting that’s what you took from my comment. Says more about you than it does about me.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize:
Well, in your case it’s because women find you really unattractive.
Zing!
burnspbesq
@Mary G:
In my view, Ms. Franks is exactly fucking rig ht.
mrmoshpotato
Anyone know if Dump’s showing up to game 5, or is he too busy cheating on Melon with his soon-to-be 4th wife, Newt-style?
Josie
Of course people should have the sex lives they want, but no one should be surprised that this would be a problem for a woman in today’s political climate. Doesn’t make it right, but she should have seen this coming a mile away.
burnspbesq
And Duncan Hunter is a bad comparable. The shit he is alleged to have done with campaign funds is orders of magnitude worse.
burnspbesq
@mrmoshpotato:
He’s likely to be booed unmercifully if he deigns to show up.
N
I really hate it that the picture under this post on the front page was an ad bearing the smiling visage of Orangemandias.
mrmoshpotato
@burnspbesq: Hoping for a “Go fuck yourself” chant like the “Let’s go Nationals” chant I just heard.
dr. bloor
@Mary G: If you had written the second sentence first, I suspect you would not have seen the sense in writing the first.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
I never found that to be an impediment.
Immanentize
@[Individual 1] mistermix:
But isn’t that the trap? Efforts at any version of personal privacy are met with,
” but she lied about her afair!”
Men? No such punishment.
Mary G
@burnspbesq:
Steeplejack
@mrmoshpotato:
Haven’t seen him on screen or mentioned yet. Probably had to stay home and rest after killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
HinTN
@Josie:
Yes, and she still shouldn’t have resigned. Men don’t.
dr. bloor
@Immanentize: Not sleeping with staff isn’t a “trap,” it’s a standard. She broke it. Time for the Dems to do better and hopefully find someone with better judgment to hold that seat.
TaMara (HFG)
This sums it up well:
Mary Anne Franks
✔
@ma_franks
Among the enraging aspects of this is how women’s consensual sexual conduct continues to be judged so much more harshly than men’s nonconsensual sexual conduct. It’s not just that @RepKatieHill is leaving office; it’s that men who have raped, battered, & harassed women aren’t.
HinTN
@Steeplejack: Hard work, that. Especially fresh off the links.
Immanentize
@TaMara (HFG):
This is my position
dr. bloor
@TaMara (HFG): You know what else sums it up well? Hill had shitty judgment and painted a bullseye on her ass that can be seen from space.
Arguing “but men…” here just means you’re happy to be as corrupt as the Reps are if it means retaining power.
Josie
@HinTN:
Agreed.
Cacti
Meh.
Undisciplined and stupid. No need to waste any political capital on it.
Another Scott
I posted my $0.02 downstairs.
Cheers,
Scott.
TaMara (HFG)
@Mary G: You and I are in sync. LOl
And seriously, when all the men who have been caught in inappropriate sexual relations start resigning, then we can talk about it like this:
Immanentize
@TaMara (HFG):
PS, I will happily wait for the first woman here to tell us she should be treated harshly.
Immanentize
@Cacti:
Man
Immanentize
@dr. bloor:
Man
Cacti
@Immanentize:
#MeToo
Immanentize
@[Individual 1] mistermix:
Man
Immanentize
@Cacti:
#unintelligible or sexist
Cacti
@Immanentize:
Nancy Pelosi?
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack:
With his bare, short-fingered baby hands.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mrmoshpotato:
You know our trump. He doesn’t like to draw attention to himself
dr. bloor
@Immanentize: Corrupt. See how that works?
Sister Golden Bear
@TaMara (HFG):
This. So much this.
rikyrah
@Sister Golden Bear:
The being bisexual isn’t the issue. Sleeping with the staff was. I think she punked out. Should not have resigned.
The whole nude pictures thing showed poor judgement.??
Cacti
@rikyrah:
You monstrous apologist for the patriarchy! ;-)
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, if he stays long enough, he’ll want to mumble out the stretch.
“I am the fucking greatest President of the United States. So much better than the black guy…For it’s one, two, three wives you’ve wronged, while banging a porn poem star!”
TaMara (HFG)
@dr. bloor: Who said anything about Republicans? A man who had “revenge porn” sent out of him having consensual sexual relations with two women, would get nudges and winks and a passing, don’t do your staffers, but wouldn’t be forced to resign. The high fives behind closed doors would be epic.
And let’s not forget, this was revenge porn sent out by her husband and he’ll more than likely face no consequences.
You have no fucking idea what it is like to work in a professional setting as a woman. You think anything that just happened hasn’t happened daily and resulted in women losing their jobs?
Sister Golden Bear
@rikyrah: No, it wasn’t about her being bisexual. Sleeping with staff was the problem — although if all the male members of Congress who did that had to resign, I doubt Congress would be able to manage a quorum.
What’s sucky when you’re an under-represented minority and one of the few “people who look like you” in Congress resigns.
Cacti
Does anyone have a defense for Hill that isn’t based on a tu quoque fallacy?
Asking for a friend.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Trump is at the game.
Thread has names of entourage, etc.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
And just now, for the first time, they showed Trump on camera and the announcers mentioned him. Matt Gaetz prominent in the foreground near Trump, grinning like a jackass, as usual.
senyordave
@Steeplejack: Matt Gaetz prominent in the foreground near Trump, grinning like a jackass, as usual.
Probably shitfaced, although its still early. But he’s probably not driving, so he might actually stay sober.
[Individual 1] mistermix
Two things can be true at the same time:
1. Women face a double standard, and Republican men especially get away with terrible conduct towards women.
2. Hill’s quick resignation was the right thing to do because she violated the rules of the House and we are the party that follows the rules.
Another Scott
From reading her resignation letter (posted as an image on Twitter, I haven’t seen a text version), it’s clear that she’s being attacked unfairly and viciously.
But I still think that she is correct in resigning. There are clear rules about having sexual relationships with staff and underlings.
Westword (from 2008):
There are clear rules against such sexual things, even when they’re consensual (among at least a few of the participants). (I don’t know how the MMS stuff ended up turning out.) And of course, Hill isn’t accused of mismanaging billions of dollars of federal property…
I hope she’s able to get large judgements from those who are attacking her unfairly, and I hope she lands on her feet and continues to try to make a positive difference for people.
While I see the logic and understand the outrage, I don’t find compelling the arguments that the GOP doesn’t throw out their bad actors, so we shouldn’t uphold high standards, myself. Things aren’t going to get better if we “but whatabout…” for people on our side.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@senyordave: “I only get shitface drunk when I’ll be driving.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TaMara (HFG):
He might, I believe revenge porn is against CA state law.
TaMara (HFG)
@[Individual 1] mistermix: I know, wasn’t it great when Bill Clinton resigned for having consensual sex with an intern!
Sally
I think she should have apologised for her poor judgement, made the point that plenty of the men in congress have done similar and far worse without being shamed, promised to work hard for her constituents and do better in the future. If flotus* can have deliberately published nude pics floating around, Hill can weather this. IMHO. Only women are slut shamed. Name a few of the male philanderers and ask them if they think they should resign. We must bring an end to this double standard – both regarding women and Democrats. I don’t like to see deceitful behaviour, but I hate the hypocrisy.
TaMara (HFG)
@Another Scott: I believe what she’s doing is appropriate and honorable. I also think it’s appropriate to be enraged by the double-standard and the entire sex-shaming of it all.
Now if her staffer had filed a complaint and it this was a #metoo issue, I’d be flaming her. A woman can sexually harrass, too, both men and women, and I’ve seen it in action. Absolutely no excuse for that behavior.
oatler.
Chuck Todd spends more time tweeting about the Nats than he does about politics. Wonder if he’ll join in the impending booooo?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
senyordave
On 2/6/18 Huffington Post had this headline:
House Explicitly Bans Sexual Relationships Between Lawmakers And Staffers. It was a unanimous vote. Hill knew what she was doing and in resigning she did what she had to. In the months before the vote, members who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct included Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.). Some of the allegations have involved congressional staffers.
Farenthold is a dirtbag but he was involved with a staffer.
Its too bad but the defense that other people have done worse and stayed is pretty weak.
lgerard
How many innings will pass before trump calls the Nats dugout to tell them what to do because they have been doing it wrong.
Also, Steve Scalise is really small
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, but it would’ve been stadium-wide if they’d announced the Soviet shitpile’s presence over the loudspeaker.
Mike in NC
Never lose sight of the fact that “America’s Greatest Sexual Predator” still sits in the White House.
mrmoshpotato
@oatler.: Chuckles will think they’re booing Hillary.
geg6
@TaMara (HFG):
This, this, this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
only R I can think of who resigned because of sex– not harassment– with a staffer is our own Newton Leroy.
Said staffer is now embarrassing the nation as Ambassador to the Vatican.
I have enough of a Catholic left in me to be offended by that. Can’t believe more arent’
Steve in the ATL
Posted on the older thread by accident.
Anyone have any idea why my cat has started eating green peppers?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, you can hear it
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Tweet has video.
Mart
Rump has the umps fixing the game for the Nats. An MLB umpire (not umping the WS) posted this message to Twitter on Tuesday:
“I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL WAR!!! #MAGA2020”
He deleted the tweet and sort of apologized. I find this kind of shit a bit frightening. How many millions are thinking this is OK?
mrmoshpotato
Nationals fans know what they don’t like – Soviet shitpile traitorous Trump trash
Elie
This is so sad and so hard!
She has every right to her private sexual life but Katie also knew the rules about staff and is way bright enough to know the risk she was taking and how important her seat is for a cause much greater than her sexual desire. Yes, some trickery with her husband is involved, but surely at least some of this is on her and her decisions! I feel terrible for her — and for US. We supported her candidacy and the difficult victory she won. Now not only is her life mucked up, but we are at risk with this seat. Do we have to send out personal letters to our elected people about what is stupid to do if you are in a district we are trying to flip or just narrowly flipped? Honestly! No way to feel anything but horrible about all of this….
dr. bloor
@TaMara (HFG):
The shared presumption underlying rules against sleeping with staff under any circumstances includes (a) that the inherent power balance in the relationship renders the idea of “consent” dodgy at best, and (b) that the absence of a formal complaint in such a situation does not confirm that what happened was consensual and was not an abuse of power.
mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL: Well if you stopped spreading tuna all over them… ?
JamesKPolkEsq
Disappointed she resigned. A total tempest in a teapot.
No one would have remembered in 10 days. This is standard consenting adult stuff, power dynamics included.
It’s against the rules, sure. It’s essentially a victimless crime. Censure and move forward would have been fine.
Dan B
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I heard boos when T was announced. Didn’t last long enough.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
MAGA!
Belafon
@dr. bloor: And the point I see women making here is that the argument being made here by a lot of men is “Just because men get away with it doesn’t mean a woman should.” The law prevents the rich from sleeping under the bridge but the poor are the only ones that get punished.
Steve in the ATL
@mrmoshpotato: ha! That’s a separate problem: cat is conditioned to assume sound of can opener means he’s getting tuna. Hasn’t caught on yet that twice a day, every day, we open cans of green beans for the dieting dogs.
schrodingers_cat
OT: Operation Karanji was a resounding success. My best effort so far!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: FYI some of my neighbors are enthusiastically celebrating your holiday. My animals not so much.
Mary G
@TaMara (HFG): @geg6: Yep. I’m both enraged that the nudes from her husband were published and that she is being slut-shamed and subjected to a double standard by the usual suspects; and glad she resigned because we shouldn’t decide we don’t have to follow rules just because the other party doesn’t.
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat:
Hehe
They sound delicious. :)
senyordave
@Belafon: One big problem is that the current rules which were much tougher and much more explicit were put in place in marh, 2018 at the height of the MeToo movement. To then go and say well it was consensual so we can let it slide in this case defeats the whole purpose. My last two jobs were with companies that a zero tolerance policy when it came to sexual relationships with subordinates, and they both strictly enforced that policy. There was no gray area.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: Fire crackers?
OGLiberal
Didn’t read the comments. Hill should have stayed in office and said that Jesus came to her personally and told her that threesomes were in the original gospels but Joey Ratz wrote them out. I don’t even know if Hill is Catholic – probably not – but fuck this shit. Just fucking own it and soldier on. Worried about the Trumpers in your district? They like this shit. Probably turns them on. Net positive.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: I hope it’s fire crackers and not gunfire. I live in a sketchy neighborhood.
schrodingers_cat
@mrmoshpotato: I made them completely from scratch, right from buying whole coconuts!
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: Firecrackers would be traditional, but you know your neighbors better than I do.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: yes, I have a few Indian neighbors, and there have been fireworks for days now. I don’t think a gun has been fired here since it was horse farms few decades ago.
rikyrah
@Cacti:
Man, I would have to be married 20years before I would do the nude pictures thing.???
All the men and women in Washington, and she’s sleeping with the staff???
dr. bloor
@Belafon: The poor sleep under the bridge because they have no other recourse. Remind me how that’s similar to Hill’s situation.
Kent
Shrug:
She’s an adult. No one forced her to resign. I expect she didn’t look forward to the absolutely vicious social media campaign that would have been mounted against her should she have decided to run again in 2020. She’s in a swing district and would have had a massive target painted on her back. And don’t think Dems wouldn’t have done the same thing. Dems would have gleefully and viciously attacked any GOP Congressman or woman caught up in similar circumstances.
Hopefully we can hold the seat. this isn’t about Hill. It’s about her vote. That’s honestly all I care about.
Zinsky
The older I get the more I am perplexed by affairs of the heart. People who are otherwise very bright and discerning make such grievously bad decisions searching for “love”. It’s usually just lust and their lives are damaged forever for such irrational and fleeting reasons. And it isn’t just young people – I know a couple that were married 36 years and they both had affairs with people at least ten years younger. Neither affair lasted and now both are old, alone and miserable. Love is strange.
Kent
@senyordave:
Weinstein and the rest of his ilk usually don’t deny what they did. What they claim instead was that it was CONSENSUAL.
I’m not saying Hill = Weinstein. Not at all. I’m just saying that “consensual” is an extremely loaded and problematic term when it comes to employer/employee relationships which is why most organizations prohibit it these days.
burnspbesq
@Cacti:
She owed it to all women to fight the patriarchal double standard.
Another Scott
@burnspbesq: She is at least investigating lawsuits under the various applicable laws. She can, and it sounds like she will, fight to punish the monsters. She can, and should, do that outside of Congress. Read her letter.
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
@burnspbesq:She didn’t owe it to me. Whatever advances we hope to gain from metoo# reforms will vanish when men can point to women getting away with using the office staff as a dating pool. It doesn’t matter whether women are far less likely to transgress. That’s not how this works. Hill was an idiot for doing this. Maybe not quite in Anthony Wiener territory but certainly in the same league as Bill Clinton and likely to be held up at every turn as a defense against misogynist behavior.
Gvg
This woman think Hill can take a hike. Do not defend her, work to get rid of men who do the same. 2 affairs with staff, good bye. Don’t like the sound of her husband, but I don’t think she is all that great either. Don’t really like people who have affairs, though I supported Bill Clinton because he vetoed terrible GOP bills and I thought he was not a good husband at the same time I needed him to stay in office because his vote were much better for me and all the republicans were worse people. A house member is just not that needed in comparison. She showed terrible judgement too.
As for republican’s who have done worse and stayed in office….it seems to me that most of them had been in office for quite awhile before something this stupid came out. Also it depends on the district.
I am glad this came out now and we have time to recruit someone else for her district. It could be worse.
Mart
One of the pictures showed an Iron Cross tatoo in her private area, commonly associated with white supremacists and fans of Nazi symbols. Probably best for her to quit.
Rand Careaga
As to double standards: about twenty-five years ago an old college chum, who worked at that time in a fairly senior position at a well-known Silicon Valley outfit, related the story of how he and a female colleague at approximately the same place on the food chain had fallen into an “emotional affair.” He was then in his mid-forties. It did not, I gather, ever rise (or descend) to carnal conduct, but there was an intense, affectionate and, he believed, mutual connection. I am inclined to believe him, because “Harry” was, and seems to have remained, a notably level-headed character.
So one day he’s summoned to an audience with The Boss, who says, “Harry, HR informs me that Sally has filed a sexual harassment action against you.” At hearing this my friend experienced what I have seen described elsewhere as a klong: “the sudden rush of shit to the heart.” He confessed all. The boss heard him out, and sighed, “Harry, you’ve been dumb. I hope you recognize that.”
Harry, meekly: “Yes, sir.”
“Well, I’m going to trust that you’ve learned something from this experience. You’re a valued member of our team, and I’d hate to lose you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s settled, then, We’ll transfer her.”
****
When he told me this story some years later, I quipped, “Well, thank god for the patriarchy,” and I am pleased to report that at this he looked abashed.
tl;dr version: Hill was foolish, but she got a raw deal. If McCarthy’d been caught sending dick pics, he’d still be Minority Leader.
tam1MI
@Rand Careaga: Al Franken did far less then Hill did, and he got run out of Congress on a rail.
#WeHaven’tForgotten.