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Tag: State Legislator

256: Robert Fisher

Rape Culture
Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Robert Fisher was a state representative in New Hampshire from 2014 to 2017. He resigned after The Daily Beast identified him as the founder of The Red Pill, a disgusting and misogynistic forum on reddit. He created many online pseudonymous account that linked back to his personal email. The first Daily Beast article shows multiple ways they tracked him from The Red Pill.

He posted hateful things like “Feminists are obsessed with rape because we live in a rape fantasy culture, where feminists wish they were hot enough to be rape-able,” When they tracked him down to ask, he wiped all his posts and went private on social media. He did continue, though, with a different pseudonym.

251: John Peterson

Sexual Harassment
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John Peterson was a Republican politician in Pennsylvania serving eight years in local government before being elected to the state House in 1977, then to the state Senate in 1985, and then the US Congress in 1997 where he served until 2009. He was accused of sexual harassment by a page when he was in the state Senate. She filed a complaint alleging he grabbed her breast in the elevator. The Pennsylvania Senate’s investigator concluded that it probably happened, but was impossible to prove. In addition, three women said he tried to kiss them at work and three additional women asked for and got transfers because he made them uncomfortable at work. Those six cases were not investigated.

247: Rory Ogle

Familial Abuse & Violence
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Rory Ogle was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2002 but resigned in 2005 after he was arrested for domestic violence and assault after an altercation with his wife. He was alleged to have thrown a headboard and a mop handle at his wife while drunk, injuring her. She called from a nearby grocery where she ran for safety. The headboard hit her hand and may have broken it. His wife said she was divorcing him. He did this in front of this three children, all less than ten years old.

241: Gary Rolls

Child Molestation
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.