Of Sex Scandals

Today the Chicago Sun Times printed comments by Newt Gingrich saying that Democratic sex scandals are worse than Republican ones. Gingrich, you'll remember, was one of the primary members of Congress to criticise Bill Clinton after Lewinskygate. Gingrich, you may also remember, has been married three times, and cheated on his wife while she was bedridden with cancer. (For some reason the always-liberal media failed to mention those facts. I guess they must not be relevant.) I'm not sure how one would measure the severity of sex scandals along party lines. Nonetheless, I hope Gingrich hasn't forgotten the following gems:* • Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. • Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation. • Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy. • Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls. • Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls. • Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. • Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17. • Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth (the guy who tried to take Terry Schiavo a glass of water) is a convicted child rapist in Florida. • Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered. • Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor. • Republican United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 16-year old black girl which produced a child. • Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile. • Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl. • Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was charged with molesting his 9-year old step-daughter after including her in an anti-Gore television commercial. • Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s. • Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos. • Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children. • Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child. • Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page. • Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter. • Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography. • Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar. • Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped. *Apologies if some of the links don't work. I first posted this list nearly a year ago. If you find a link unclickable, use Google. All the kids are doing it. I am also well aware that Democrats have had sex scandals of their own, involving children and otherwise. This is not a pissing contest, but a reminder that the Republican Party, despite what it implies, does not have the market cornered on moral values, whatever those are.