Cajsa Lilliehook

229: George H. W. Bush

Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct

September 20, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

George H. W. Bush was the President of the United States from 1989 to 2003, between Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. In 2017, eight women accused him of groping them including one woman who said she was sixteen when he it happened.

His defenders point out that being in a wheelchair, his arm is at an awkward height for photos and he may just be putting his arm around someone as people do, but sitting, he’s too low and it’s perceived as groping. But one of the women said he groped her in 1992, the year he ran against Bill Clinton for president. In 2003, when he is said to have groped a sixteen-year-old, he was spinning around Kennebunkport on a Segway.

228: Brett Kavanaugh

Rape Culture, Sexual Assault

September 19, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Brett Kavanaugh is a Supreme Court Justice. During his confirmation hearing, news of an attempted rape allegation was leaked to the media and became a significant part of his confirmation hearing. Like Clarence Thomas before him, he indulged in an angry rant that shut off further inquiry into the allegation.

Christine Blasey Ford testified at the hearing and so did Kavanaugh. He produced his calendar from back in high school to provide himself an alibi, though it substantiated her timeline more effectively than his. Other women came forward alleging sexual assaults but they were not called as witnesses and their allegations were not investigated. The FBI did not do an investigation of her allegation, though they claimed to have done so at the time. Tips about Kavanaugh’s past were not forwarded for investigation but instead sent to the White House.

227: Joe Fain

Rape

September 19, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Joe Fain was a Washington state senator. Inspired by Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, Candace Faber came forward alleging Joe Fain had raped her eleven years earlier in 2007. She told her parents about the rape in 2009. She wrote a blog post not naming her attacker but describing the assault. She told other people about it and has a photo from that night with Joe Fain. This was not a simple allegation without supporting evidence.

Since his accuser does not support incarceration but prefers restorative healing as justice, she will not press charges, hoping that she can heal and so can Fain. This means absent a Senate investigation, there will be no police investigation.
The Washington Senate approved a bipartisan investigation, but Republicans rejected every investigator proposed. When Fain lost the general election, the investigation was suspended since they could not agree on an investigator. The allegation remains uninvestigated like the majority of rapes that occur.

226: Leonard Church

Child Molestation, Child Sexual Abuse Material

September 19, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Leonard Church served two terms as Kennesaw, Georgia’s mayor, and continued to serve after that as a city council member. He was accused of sexually molesting a 9-year-old boy after showing the boy child pornography. They found between 800 and 1000 child sexual exploitation images on his computer devices. He originally pled not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty in a deal where the prosecutors changed the charge from aggravated child molestation to simple child molestation. He will spent 18 years in prison. He earlier rejected a plea deal that would have only been 15 years.

225: Coy C. Privette

Solicitation

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Coy C. Privette was a retired Baptist minister, a former North Carolina state legislator, and a Cabarrus County Commissioner when he was charged with aiding and abetting prostitution. He was also the president of the Christian Action League. He resigned from the League immediately to protect them from his scandal.

This project does not track consensual adult activities, including patronizing sex workers. He is included because he stopped payment on the checks claiming they were stolen. If you renege on a contract with a sex worker, it’s not really consensual, is it?

He denied the allegations but the police had video of him booking the room and taking the woman there. He pled guilty.

224: Jack Ryan

Coercion

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Jack Ryan was the Republican candidate for Senate running against Barack Obama in 2004. That campaign was derailed when the media won disclosure of his divorce settlement with ex-wife Jeri Ryan. In the divorce, she stated that he forced her to go to swingers clubs and pressured her to have sex while others watched. This…

223: Bill Kramer

Sexual Assault

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Bill Kramer was a Wisconsin State Assembly member and the Majority Leader. He was accused of sexually harassing two women, a lobbyist and a legislative aide, at a D.C. fundraiser in February 2014. When that became public, another woman came forward, reporting to the police that Kramer had assaulted and groped a woman in 2011. While she did not go to police at the time, she had a lawyer send Kramer a letter telling him to stay away from her. She had witnesses to her distress the night of the incident. She said she didn’t come forward at the time to avoid embarrassing herself, her family, and the Republican party.

His party removed him as Majority Leader and called on him to resign but he refused to do so.

In a plea deal, Kramer pled no contest two two counts of misdemeanor assault which meant that he was not required to resign. He was sentenced to five months in jail. He apologized to the woman, claiming he was struggling with alcohol at the time.

222: Thad Viers

Sexual Harassment

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Thad Viers was a committed conservative. As a teen, he was a page for South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond. He went to The Citadel. He worked for the Heritage Foundation. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2003. He was planning a run for Congress in 2012. But things began falling apart.

In 2008, he pleaded no contest to threatening to beat up and sexually assault a man who was dating his ex-wife. He paid a $500 fine. In 2012, he suspended his run for Congress and decided not to run for re-election, and then resigned after he was arrested for stalking an ex-girlfriend. She brought an entire binder of letters sent after she broke up with him in mid-2011. He even contacted her father. She went to the police reluctantly because she didn’t want to harm his career. A police officer called and told him to stop contacting her on Dec 16, 2011. He contacted her twice more, on the 22nd and the 31st using someone else’s phone to evade a block on his number. He resigned in March 2012.

221: Nelson Hardwick

Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Nelson Hardwick was a South Carolina state representative. In the middle of his sixth term he resigned for health reasons that turned out to be a pending criminal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and assault and battery. He was accused of harassing a legislative staffer whom he lured to his office where he touched her against her will. He pleaded guilty to assault and battery in the criminal case.

220: Jason Priest

Child Abuse, Familial Abuse & Violence

September 18, 2022Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Jason Priest was a state senator from Red Lodge, Montana. He was a Tea Party Republican and was a standard issue far right pro-gun, anti-choice, “family values” Republican who clashed with more moderate colleagues. He chaired the Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee. Then he got in an argument with his estranged wife. In his rage, he threw his 4-year-old daughter across the room where she hit her head and was injured. In the end, he assaulted his daughter, his estranged wife, her boyfriend, and a police officer who had been called to the scene. He was charged with four felony assault claims but pleaded guilty to all four when they were amended to misdemeanors.