Posted on 03/17/2010 10:02:22 AM PDT by Utah Binger
Kevin Garn is gone from Utah politics after a sordid 25-year secret was finally laid bare in a bizarre end-of-session legislative speech last week. Garn, 55, admitted to sharing a hot tub with a 15-year-old girl 25 years ago. Both were nude. Also, Garn admitted that he paid $150,000 in 2002 to the woman, Cheryl Maher, for her to keep quiet about the incident.
Garn's resignation reminds us that in politics, most secrets eventually are revealed. There may be more to the story. We promise to keep our readers informed. There is one ghastly sidelight to all this that merits further discussion: the standing ovation Garn received from his colleagues in the Utah House after his mea culpa. What a distasteful show. What a bad example for our children. Do we want them to learn that admission to appalling behavior -- long after it's occurred and with a payoff -- merits praise and applause?
In what other venue would Garn's admission have been met with applause other than the old boy's club known as the Utah Legislature? Utah House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, incredibly said this, "I would ask my fellow colleagues that their hearts might be open, and that we wish you and your family all the best and we hope that you remain with us."
"We hope that you remain with us." That appalling comment deserves repeating. It nails the attitude last week in the Utah House. Clark later defended his comments and the ovation, saying it shouldn't be construed as approval for Garn. But there's no other way to read the show of support. Legislators aren't stupid. They know Garn only made that speech because he hoped to dilute the effects of newspaper stories the next day. It's a common practice for politicians and others to release bad news first and then try to ride out the storm. In Garn's case, thankfully the only people he was able to spin -- at least last week -- were his colleagues in the House.
Where was concern for Cheryl Maher last week from legislators? There appears to be circumstancial evidence that the experience has caused personal trauma in her life. Frankly, the entire Garn incident, and how it was handled, is an advertisement for real ethics reform in the Utah Legislature -- not the baby steps recently passed by legislators, but the citizens initiatives that will be on the ballot this fall if enough signatures can be gathered.
Don't tell on me....Pleasse...How much is this going to cost me? An afternoon of drinking beer at the bunny and dinner at the Oyster Bar?
Well my “things” weren’t crimes, so the extortion won’t be quite as high as $150,000. I think beer and dinner would be just about right. :D
BTW, I saw a picture today of your beautiful wife in the late 1960’s or early 70’s. She looked about 15 years old (you sly dog!)
Yeah, people sure have short memories.
I robbed the cradle. She was 19; I was 24. Couldn’t pass her up.
So?
So what?
My earlier post stands
Meaning you like to pick & choose which info to believe based upon, what?
Thanks for the ping!
Mine WAS!!
I was too. ;)
>>I’m guessing Miss Maher’s parents probably also had much higher expectations of Mr. Garn.<<
I won’t even wager a guess. I saw the parents of LOTS of girls considering most of the sleepovers happened a our house. My daughter was captain of the high school varsity basketball team. On a surprisingly regular basis we had 10 or 15 fifteen-to-eighteen year old girls running around my house in what could fairly accurately be called “nighties”. I got to meet a lot of parents with varying degrees of parental involvement, and I also felt uncomfortalbe enough around the girls at such times to retire to my music studio and let my wife take care of most of it.
I will say this though: I always thought of them as just kids and not sexual objects. It may be because I am completely fulfilled in that area (my marriage).
Regarding this guy, it could be partly him and partly the girl. I strongly believe that at least a couple of these girls would have been more than game, based on what I later learned. And they all came from middle and upper middle class families. The “worst” one of the group was raised VERY religiously.
If this same scenario had gone on when I was married to my first wife (where celibacy was forced on me for well over a year) I am not sure what would have happened had opportunity presented itself. I’d like to think I would have taken the right path and not fallen in with the likes of King David regarding Bathsheba.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.