Priscilla Giddings
A basic tenet of growing up is that bad behavior has consequences. Parents drill into their kids that breaking rules results in punishment. Teachers give bad grades for not studying; goofing off in the classroom ends with a trip to the principal’s office.
What to do with a legislator who breaks the legislative body’s rules?
In Idaho, a GOP state representative, Aaron von Ehlinger, resigned after being accused of raping an intern. He hasn’t been criminally charged yet; the matter is still under police investigation.
Following that incident, another GOP state representative, Priscilla Giddings, “became the subject of two ethics complaints by about two dozen lawmakers after she shared links to a far-right blog that included the name, photo and personal details about her [sic] the young woman who reported being raped by the lawmaker. Giddings posted the link on social media and in a newsletter to constituents,” ABC News reported on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 (story here).
After two days of a public hearing, “during which the [ethics] committee found that Giddings engaged in ‘conduct unbecoming a representative, which is detrimental to the integrity of the House as a legislative body,'” the committee recommended stripping Giddings of her committee assignments as punishment. That’s up to a vote by the full legislative body, which has yet to take place.
Giddings isn’t contrite. She denies wrongdoing, refused to cooperate with the committee investigation, was combative and evasive, and claims the intern isn’t a “crime victim.”
What to do with her? You can’t just let bad behavior go. That only encourages more.
Giddings is an intelligent woman with an impressive biography; she graduated from the Air Force Academy with a biology degree, was a fighter pilot, and a squadron commander (read her bio here). Those credentials undoubtedly helped her get elected to a position of public trust and responsibility.
But her behavior is bizarre. She has embraced radical rightwing politics, making her controversial even by Idaho Republican standards, and has a history of questionable ethics including tax cheating and questions about whether she was even eligible to run for the legislative office she holds (see story here). What she did to the intern is reprehensible, and it’s time to teach her the lessons she failed to learn from her parents and teachers — that bad behavior has consequences.
With even her fellow Republicans holding their nose at her latest misbehavior — and having driven von Ehlinger out of the legislature — it’s likely she’ll be sanctioned. She should be, but that’s not enough. The intern should sue Giddings for doxxing her.
Today, embracing extreme right wing politics soul sucks any and all moral sense of right, wrong, leadership, a sense of moral ethics, responsibility and accountability. And above all the decency to admit when one is wrong and made mistakes instead of lying and denying.
Someone with a good military record throws it all away to embrace ethical immorality. What kind of leadership is this?
It isn’t right. The lying isn’t right. Tax cheating isn’t right. Outing a crime victim isn’t right.
Why did Giddings do this?
Priscilla Giddings has earned something for this: A LAWSUIT.
I don’t know why she does it. You’d have to ask her. Maybe pulling too many G-forces in fighter jets damaged her brain in some way?
Perhaps her identifying, joining and “embracing” political radicalism was her last and final choice to her continuing ethical downward spiral.
There is a difference here in that the voters often reward politicians bad behavior. Booting some legislators out of office is not significant because the voters will return the person to the legislature at the first opportunity. This goes for Democratic and Republican politicians. There s a saying in Hollywood that there is no bad publicity just make sure they spell your name right. Seems a governor in New York ought to be facing a very upset legislature, but it is not likely he will be impeached or even charged though the states Prosecutor said he is guilty as sin for harassing female employees.
Doubt there is any possibility to trade these two resignations for that Govs resignation. He can probably get away with jacking it in San Diego.
You’re not well informed. Had you read the real news, you’d know that Democratic legislators are initiating the impeachment process, and a Democratic district attorney is taking steps to prosecute him.