Be proud, Democrats!
Former Virginia lawmaker Joe Morrissey won the state Senate seat for the 16th District in the Old Dominion last night, defeating Independent Waylin Ross. Morrissey got more than 60% of the votes, showing an enthusiastic electorate. He will now represent parts of Richmond, Chesterfield County, Petersburg, Hopewell, Prince George County, and Dinwiddie County.
Who is Joe Morrissey? Let me refresh your memory using this post, from 2014. The first half of it was about revolting Republican House member Blake Farenthold—the guy wearing the duck pajamas—
who was, thankfully, finally forced out of office in the wake of #MeToo. The second half was about Joe:
To get right to the meat of the matter, Delegate Morrissey is in jail. He avoids, technically, [the mandated resignation that being convicted of a crime usually triggers] because he wasn’t found guilty in a criminal matter and didn’t plead guilty: Virginia allows the so-called Alford Plea instead of the usual “guilty,” which means, “I know I’m going to be found guilty on the evidence, but I still think say I’m innocent and I’m sticking to that story, so there.” Morrissey pled to the lesser charge, a misdemeanor, of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.The Democrat from the 74th District had been charged with felonies, including child porn, that grew out of his relationship with a 17-year-old receptionist—a minor, in Virginia— in his law office. If convicted of all charges, he was facing 41 years in prison.
Admittedly, his dalliances with his receptionist were at the far end of statutory rape, but the law is the law. The evidence against him includes text messages from the alleged victim sent to her friend saying, “OMG so much I have to tell you but the most important thing is!!! I just fucked my boss tonight in our office on the desk and on the floor.” Morrissey’s friend was prepared to testify that he had received a text from Morrissey saying, “Hey, buddy I just fucked her on my conference table and again on the floor for good measure!” Morrissey then sent that same friend a nude photo of the young woman, hence the child porn charge. Morrissey had more than a dozen nude or semi-nude photos of his receptionist on his iPhone…
Since Morrissey’s negotiated jail time is going to be over in 90 days, he had said that he was considering commuting to work (the conditions of his sentence allowed periodic release, with him wearing a monitoring device), and was not going to resign.
That’s not going to fly: being sent to jail is enough [to require hsi resignation]; the slimy messages are enough, and the whole thing falls short of the minimum level of dignified conduct and deportment an elected legislator must be expected to meet. A Delegate attending meetings and voting on laws while wearing an ankle bracelet holds the state, the legislature and his distinct up to ridicule. He should resign…
And he did. Last year, Morrissey was disbarred. This year, Virginia Democrats determined that he was worthy of election as State Senator.
Joe eventually married that teenager whom he raped, under the law. I have heard Virginians use this as some kind of excuse, which is signature significance for ethical ignorance. Mary Katherine Letourneau finally married the sixth-grade boy she raped when she was hsi teacher, too. Do people really think that a rapist can erase the crime as long as they marry the victim? Apparently. This involves the same level of reasoning—none— that spurred Virginia voters to put this uber-creep back into the legislature.
Hey, but you WON, Democrats! Be proud! Sure he’s a disbarred rapist, but he’s one of you, and isn’t that all that matters?
Somebody really has to explain those #MeToo rules to me again.
Ethics Alarms 
And not a word about Juli Briskman yet another Democrat who doesn’t go high when Republicans go low?
https://news.yahoo.com/woman-lost-job-middle-finger-092548058.html
Apparently, Virginia just loves Democrats who make national news for obnoxious and, in the case of your entry above, illegal things.
Eh, she just ran on pure Trump hate, or maybe asshole love. .At this point, anyone willing to be identified as a Democrat has to rebut a presumption that they oppose civility and respect for national institutions. It’s doable, but stories like this don’t help.
The public is always more accepting of Ethics Rationalization 23 A (Woody’s Excuse, or “The Heart Wants What The Heart Wants”) when it is accompanied by an eventual wedding. They can then argue that the malefactor was overcome by love, instead of the itch to bed someone young enough to literally be his granddaughter.
Given what is known about the young woman, and the 62 year-old Morrissey’s lifelong aversion to marriage, I’d venture a guess that Representative Morrissey is more deserving of our pity than our condemnation. I rate the marriage as good for another two or three years before it crashes and burns. He made his bed: Now he has to lie in it.
I get a kick out of the pundits talking at length about Virginia turning blue.
Before anyone thinks a younger electorate is causing fewer Republican victories because they embrace the expanded social contract let me suggest the expansion of the Federal government and its relation to electorate’s income plays a far bigger role in determining who wins.
Northern Va, Richmond, and Charlottesvile area have overtaken the tidewater region as the geographical on which elections turn. Each of these area’s economies rely heavily on federal contracting and R&D grants. If the federal government contracts the livlihoods of most of the voting age residents would be in jeopardy.. Democrats are a more reliable bet for public “investment” spending. I use quotes around investment because increases in operating costs is not an investment if it does not reduce future costs or increase revenues.
Perhaps the 4 counties that surround DC and DC residents should pay a federal tax surcharge because they are the richest counties in the nation and produce very little. We can call it their fair share.
See how easy it is to determine fairness when unaffected.
Damn, Jack, you Virginia people have almost as many mouth-breathing morons serving in your legislature as we do here in Kentucky. But I can’t recall last time we had one elected while serving time.
Now, we do have a bunch of jailers that are elected every year with no jails to run. Does that count?
Morrissey is 62? I’m older. He has motivated me to go out and bed a high school chick.* Just to out-monster a Democrat. And I won’t even kill myself, like Epstein did [snickers].
*In Virginia. After I change my voter registration. Because, obviously, the state slogan, “Virginia is for lovers.” is antiquated. Not partisan (and correct) enough. Now, it must be changed to: “Virginia is for rapists and child molesters who are Democrats.”