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Month: September 2022

242: Will Folks

Familial Abuse & Violence
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Will Folks was Governor Mark Sanford’s spokesperson. In July 2005, he resigned on a Friday, planning to open his own political consulting firm. That night he kicked the door in at the home he shared with his fiancée and pushed her down, leaving her bruised. The resignation had been announced earlier and could have nothing to do with the incident. A warrant was issued for criminal domestic violence. He turned himself in on Saturday. Though he originally denied the charge but he changed his plea to guilty in what he claimed was a chivalric desire to protect her from private details that would come out in a trial.

He was given a 30-day suspended sentence.

He is also the blogger who claimed to have an affair with Nikki Haley which she denied. Now he runs the web site FITSnews.com which claims to be independent and unapologetic. It certainly is as happy to highlight Republican corruption as Democratic corruption so it is no FOX or Breitbart disinformation site.

241: Gary Rolls

Child Molestation
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Gary Rolls was a Republican county commissioner in Kent County, Michigan. In 2012, after he won his Republican primary in a state House race, a 28-year-old woman came forward claiming he had sexually abused her since she was nine years-old until she was twenty-three. But never fear, his arrest was dignified. He was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault, tampering with evidence, and using a computer to commit a crime.

The woman testified that she suffered from migraines, high blood pressure, anxiety, and nightmares as a result of the abuse. She said he threatened her and since she saw him associating with police and other powerful people, he could carry out his threats so she submitted to his demands.

“He made me do things that made me physically sick and he didn’t care. If I cried, he told me to stop because I was weak. If I said no, he told me I wasn’t allowed to tell him no because he was the adult and I was the child,” she said.

“There are no words to truly reflect the pain, the fears, and the lifelong scars that I have endured because of him.”
Michigan Radio: Former Kent County commissioner to serve a year in jail for sex crimes against minor

240: Steve Nunn

Familial Abuse & Violence, Murder
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Steve Nunn was a Republican state representative in Kentucky. His father was Governor Louis Nunn. He was elected 1990 and re-elected handily through 2004. He was unopposed from 1998 to 2004 but lost to a Democrat in 2006. He was appointed deputy secretary for Health and Human Services Cabinet by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

In March 2009, he was placed on leave for a domestic violence incident with his former fiancée, Amanda Ross. She got an order of protection. In November 2009, he shot and killed her. The police found him at his father’s grave with his wrists slit. He shot at the police six times, but was taken into custody and sent to the hospital. When he recovered he was charged with her murder. Ironically, killing someone with a protective order carries the death penalty, the result of a bill he co-sponsored in 1998. He eventually pled guilty and was sentenced to life without parole. He was also ordered to pay over $24 million to her family. He collects his pension in prison.

239: Angela Wozniak

Retaliation, Sexual Harassment
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Angela Wozniak was elected to the New York Assembly, replacing Dennis Gabryszak, a Democrat who was accused of sexual harassment. She promised change. However, she was similarly accused less than a year into her term. Elias Farah worked for her. They had a consensual affair, but when he wanted to end it, she coerced into continuing, he claimed. She then banned him from working in the district office and Wozniak disparaged him.

“The ethics committee unanimously agrees that Assembly Member Wozniak retaliated against her director of legislation by tarnishing his reputation to the person who had recommended him, and through her counsel identifying him by name to the press as the complaining party, as well as making other statements to the press that are reasonably likely to harm the director of legislation’s reputation in express violation of the ethics committee’s explicit notice to refrain from any breach of confidentiality,” the ethics committee wrote.
Politico: Wozniak admonished over affair with staffer

238: Greg Ball

Sexual Harassment
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Greg Ball was a New York state senator. He was accused in 2016 of banging a woman’s head against a post while trying to force her to perform oral sex. The woman held back from reporting for several months, claiming she feared Ball and was too embarrassed. A few days after she gave the report she said she did not want to press charges.

The police report gives a full, and frightening account of her experience. Ball has retained an attorney to threaten her. He called it politically motivated, but it was never made public during the election.

He has a history. An ex-girlfriend took out an order of protection when they broke up. Another woman claimed he groped her. A woman wrote a letter accusing him of sexual harassment, but that accusation was found to be not credible.

236: Mathew Wollman

Sexual Misconduct
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Mathew Wollman represented the 8th district of South Dakota in the state legislature. He was confronted by reporters about having sexual relationships with two college-aged interns. They were adults and the relationships were legal, but they were decidedly unethical. The legislature formed a committee to determine how to punish him, but instead he resigned although he believed he did nothing wrong.

Ironically, a legislative committee voted down a proposal to prohibit relationships with interns and pages. His fiancée was a high school intern though Wollman said their relationship began a year after her high school internship ended.

Wollman now works as a police officer in Madison.

235: Walter S. Smith

Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Walter S. Smith was a federal judge in Waco, Texas. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan and served 32 years before resigning to evade accountability. While he didn’t run into trouble until 2015, he sexually harassed and groped a woman in 1998 and it was her complaint that was featured, though there were several complaints. This is not unusual, in a study by CNN found less than 1% of complaints were referred to a special committee for investigation. In her case, a lawyer filed a complaint and raised a stink.

In 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts created a committee to investigate sexual harassment in the federal judiciary. In 2015, Smith had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, ordered him to attended sexual harassment training, and told him he could not hear any new cases for a year. However, a federal judicial conduct committee told the 5th Circuit they need to investigate again because it was alleged this was a pattern of behavior. As soon as that happened, he resigned, which saved his pension and ended the investigation.

234: Paul Bailey

Custodial Negligence
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Paul Bailey was the sheriff of Berrien County. While Sheriff, ten women sued the county alleging that four deputies had sexually assaulted them, demanding sexual favors for money or other benefits. When the suit became public, five more women came forward. Throughout the controversy, Bailey denied that it happened, then said that the deputies had already resigned or were fired, and took no accountability for the apparent negligent training and supervision that allowed this to happen. The County was named in the suit for failing to properly supervise, monitor, and investigate complaints.

Unfortunately, the lawsuit was dismissed because the 3-year statute of limitations had expired

233: Mike May

Sexual Harassment
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Mike May was the House Minority Leader in Colorado. In 2010, he was sued by four employees of one of the hotels he owned alleging they were sexually harassed and when they made a complaint, he retaliated against them.

One of the complainants worked the front desk. She complained to Mr. May about sexual harassment by other employees. He then invited her for a drink, told her she was doing a great job, and would be promoted. But, she declined the drink. He went on reminding her “who signs your paycheck.” When she refused to sleep with him she was denied the promotion they had discussed. May settled her lawsuit. He claims that was because his insurance company thought it was cheaper.