It takes work for a Republican legislator to get censured by a legislature where their own party holds 80% of the seats, but Priscilla Giddings (photo, left) pulled it off.
How? By doxing a rape victim, in this case a legislative intern allegedly raped by a fellow Republican legislator, and then messing with the committee investigating her conduct.
“Her repeated lying, half-truths, and total disrespect for the Ethics Committee, and the Ethics Committee process, is conduct that cannot and will not be tolerated,” her Republican colleagues on the committee said in a statement. Read story here.
Giddings isn’t a stupid country bumpkin. She graduated from the Air Force Academy, was a fighter pilot and squadron commander, and now is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. But she’s also a thick-headed rightwing extremist (parse her political record here).
Intelligence and a great education don’t guarantee good character. Smart people can be nasty, dishonest, and unethical just like anyone else. When deciding who to vote for in your local elections, you have to look further than their credentials and resumes, at what kind of people they are.
Otherwise, you may get a Priscilla Giddings representing you.