This was a better world when shame was the expected reaction when shameful behavior became public. I’m sure we had pedophiles back then, but they didn’t get standing ovations when we knew who they were!
Too bad he won't be able to get the $150,000 back. Probably ill-gotten in the first place, anyway.
ping
Sure are a lot of women going after the money now.
Is the chick in the hot tub supposed to be the one that took $150,000 to keep quiet?
She’s a willing participant, albeit after the fact.
In a culture that would restore polygamy in a heartbeat if it became legal, why should we be surprised that they gave him a standing ovation for being naked in a hot tub with a 15 year old girl.
Joseph Smith would be proud of Garn.
Two words - Bill Clinton.
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?
Where? In the US House of Representatives.
Mass. Rep. Gerry Studds (D) got a standing ovation when he returned to Congress after his censure for buggering a House Page.
“Garn’s resignation reminds us that in politics, most secrets eventually are revealed.”
What? This only proves the meaningless “All former secrects have been revealed”. It says nothing about the number of secrets still secret.
He was just being a good Mormon.
Consider the sobering fact that the American Republic is in the early phase of its long road to Caesarism. Homosexuality and other vice addictions are becoming the norm for politicians at all levels. Further, many of the b*stards, when caught, refuse to resign.( i.e. ‘Ole Teddy’ comes to mind). Add to the aforementioned graft, raiding various taxpayer funded programs, stuffing ballot boxes wealth transfer from Americans to third worlders. In short, all that is foul and corrupt is now the expected ‘Norm’ from elected representatives. Not good!
The guy is no different than the pervs that Dateline exposes. There’s damn few men that would share a naked dip in a hot tube with a woman without the having intent to get at the goodies. I have to question what set of circumstances that led to this happening in the first place.
What’s the big deal? Subsitute the name Bill sh-taxx klinton for Garn and the MSM would probably telling us he was one of the greatest C.I.C.s in our history.
From Eric Knight:
"You've freely printed Cheryl Maher's statement online without any fact-checking. Please consider posting my statement as well:
Kevin Garn did not, to my knowledge, ever try to rationalize or justify his behavior with Cheryl. Cheryl has told me he had gone through some sort of repentance process with his Bishop at the time, apparently on his own initiative. Until 2002, Cheryl never indicated to him that she believed he bore any responsibility for her subsequent life choices, and she remained friendly with the family until a counselor suggested in 2002 that the hot tub incident amounted to sexual abuse. Prior to that Mr Garn had given her some money at a time when she was struggling financially, as a family friend.
In 2002, while working with the counselor, Cheryl first told me the details of her relationship with Mr. Garn. Initially her story pretty much matched what Mr. Garn has stated publicly, other than her suspicion that there may have been one other girl. Subsequently, over time her story has evolved to include increasingly sensational 'recovered memories', and she has been talking for years about writing a book more or less based on her life. She has consistently demonstrated difficulty differentiating reality from fiction.
When Cheryl learned in 2002 that Mr Garn was running for the U.S. House of Representatives, she and her sister became increasingly agitated, insisting that he had never fully made amends to her and therefore hadn't appropriately repented. They began calling various attorneys and prosecutors, trying to find out whether or not legal action against him might be possible. Eventually they spoke with a reporter, who subsequently contacted Mr. Garn about five days before the primary election. Mr Garn called Cheryl, and when he learned that she was now claiming to have been so severely traumatized by him he and his wife dropped the campaign and flew to NH, where the four of us sat down with our Bishop. The discussion seemed to be sincere and heartfelt on all sides, and there were tears and hugs all around. Cheryl was appreciative and reassured Mr. Garn that her 'healing' was complete. Mr Garn lost the primary election, Cheryl declined to pursue the press or any potential legal action further; because it was no longer likely to be a significant news story and there were no corroborating witnesses, the reporter dropped the story.
Cheryl's sister continued to agitate, saying that because Mr. Garn was a wealthy man and could affored to pay, he owed Cheryl something to make restitution for all of the trauma and pain she was now attributing to her interactions with him as a teen. I was very uncomfortable with this, but tried to be a supportive husband and indicated that if she thought it would actually he helpful, she should talk to him. About a month later, Cheryl contacted Mr Garn asking for money to help make his restitution complete; there was never any suggestion of 'hush money'. He offered her $20,000, and after discussing it with her sister she requested $150,000, which suprised him but which he did agree to pay if she agreed to never mention it again to anyone. Her claims that I was pressing for more money are uncategorically false, and are an indication of how she is trying to draw me into the story. She has repeatedly swung from acknowledging this fact back to vilifying and blaming him; two years ago she told me that she "should have held out for a million".
Even when she was excommunicated, Cheryl continued to attend church for a few months and even described her excommunication as "The most loving process she could imagine." Over time, as she has suffered the consequences of her decisions, she has increasingly looked for scapegoats to blame for her failures and misery - including the LDS church, myself, and Mr. Garn. Her stories have continued to change as needed to accomodate her shifting world views, apparently attempting to justify her own behavior and make her out in her own mind and with her social group in AA to be the 'strong woman, overcoming her victimization'.
Cheryl has been vindictively trying to hurt me and my family for the last two years, after having repeatedly threatened to 'destroy me' if I didn't give her everything she wanted in the divorce and subsequent custody disputes. I have not been willing to comply with such blatant blackmail attempts because taking care of my children has been more important to me than having any secrets, and her efforts have fallen flat - I have plenty of faults and have not been perfect, and have been willing to sacrifice my privacy and reputation if it's what is needed to do what seems right. She has made accusations (ranging from distortions to gross fabrications) to the police, mental health professionals, officers of the courts, and state social workers; after appropriate investigations all have dismissed her allegations, which have continued to evolve and become increasingly spectacular as time has passed. She claims to do all of these things from the purest of motives, but those who know 'both sides of the story' know better; the only people who support her side of the story are those who only hear her side of the story and/or have a shared agenda. Other than a couple of family members with similar issues, no one who has known both of us and our situation validates her views.
Cheryl Maher has a long history of mental illness, with behavioral issues predating her involvement with Kevin Garn. It was suggested by a psychiatrist in 1993 that she might have bipolar disorder, and she was officially given that diagnosis when she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 2001-2002. She didn't like how that psychiatrist treated her, so she changed to another who continued treating her for bipolar disorder. Within the last two years she managed to convince a counselor that she may have been misdiagnosed, and subsequently changed psychiatrists again to find one who would accept her new self-diagnosis of PTSD, which better allows her to claim victimhood status and deny responsibility for herself. Her current behavior is consistent with her past hypomanic to manic episodes, and the 'fifteen minutes of fame' she is being given is leading her to spin more and more out of reality.
In my opinion, Mr Garn has paid for his wrongdoing many times over, and over the last 25 years has been nothing but generous and supportive of Cheryl. She recently spent time with her sister, and when she is with her sister the mental illness issues tend to get dramatically worse; in the last few weeks she has been increasing her threats to 'go public' with various stories and claims against me and the LDS Church. I suspect that those factors, possibly also with hopes of getting money from a book deal after all of the publicity, are driving her current actions - her claims of 'seeking healing', 'trying to help other girls' and doing this for her children don't fit with her actions and other statements as quoted in the press.
It is my hope that the press and public will quickly stop enabling her in these destructive efforts, and will leave the Garn family, our family, and others involved in peace."
Thank you,
Eric Knight
Exactly. Shows you what leaven does to the group around it. (Same effect Joseph Smith & B. Young & them marrying girls 14 & 15 had with Lds)
The Utah legislature is full of a dispicable old boys' club culture -- a culture where women & girls have been treated for generations as...
...polyg fodder...
...characters not even worthy of name identification (Go on look within the pages of the Book of Mormon: How many women by name can you find there?)
BTTT