Free Republic

A former Vermont legislator and House majority leader has died with the help of a law he himself helped pass that allows the terminally ill to end their own lives, his wife said. Willem Jewett died Jan. 12 at his home in Ripton at age 58, said his wife, Ellen McKay Jewett. He was diagnosed with mucosal melanoma over a year ago. In the days before his death, he supported changes to the 2013 law to make it easier for terminally ill people to navigate and get a prescription, VTDigger first reported. “It is very Willem fashion to still be...

Steuben County Legislator Steven Maio was arrested for patronizing a prostitute on August 12, according to New York State Police. Maio, a Democrat representing the City of Corning, was given an appearance ticket returnable on August 27th at 4:30 p.m. to the town of Hornellsville Court. 18 News first learned of the allegations through a viewer tip. 18 News reached out to Maio on Thursday morning, who referred us to his attorney, Chris Tunney, who declined to comment at this time.

That’s why the the Houston Democrat on Friday filed House Bill 4260, which would fine men $100 for masturbating and create a required booklet for men with medical information related to the benefits and concerns of a man seeking a vasectomy, a Viagra prescription or a colonoscopy. The bill would also let doctors invoke their "personal, moralistic, or religious beliefs" in refusing to perform an elective vasectomy or prescribe Viagra, among other proposed requirements in the bill.

Democratic Virginia state delegate Joseph Morrissey, who reached a plea agreement for charges relating to a sexual relationship he had with his 17-year-old office assistant, is yet to decide whether he will resign or commute to work from jail. The 57-year-old Democratic representative for Henrico county was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 6 months suspended for charges of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” according to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Morrissey’s lawyers say that he will be allowed to continue his work in the general assembly and his private law practice as part of a...

If you’re concerned about the future of the country and want to know if the next generation of Americans cares about pro-life issues, look no further than the state of West Virginia. There, pro-life 18-year-old Saira Blair, who graduated from high school in May and is now a college freshman, ran on a pro-life platform to beat an incumbent state legislator. Blair gives hope to pro-lifers wondering if teenagers really “get it” and want to make a difference for life. sairablair2“I think I’m fully capable of doing the job, and I don’t think it’s rocket science by any means —...

A Democratic state legislator in Nevada is making waves for comments saying she does not regret killing her baby in an abortion. Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, a Democrat from Las Vegas, makes the false assumption that being a teen mother is incompatible with completing ones education or a successful career and gives that as the reason why she had an abortion and has no regrets about it. As a local newspaper reports: Flores told the Assembly Education Committee that she had an abortion when she was 16. It was an emotional moment, but not the only one in a hearing that...

NASHUA — Following a storm of controversy in light of her criminal background, the first openly transgendered person elected to the New Hampshire House will resign her post. “I didn't want to have to do this,” Rep.-elect Stacie Marie Laughton, D-Nashua, said. “There's been a lot of people that have said, 'Stay strong, keep your head up, stay in it.'” “I'm super disappointed because I was looking forward to this more than anything. It's my lifelong dream to serve my community, and what better place to do it than the city that I was born and raised in.”

After debating in favor of a bill that would require ultrasounds before abortions, Democrat leaders openly harassed, threatened and belittled Democratic Rep. Daphnee Campbell. Freshman State House of Representatives member, Daphne Campbell from Miami was in her first legislative session last week when her own party viciously turned on her after she debated for and voted in favor of the pro-life bill allowing ultrasounds before abortions. Campbell is a wife and mother of five children who works as a nurse. As she rose in passionate support for the pro-life bill, Rep. Scott Randolph a Democrat from Orlando, whose assigned seat...

Democrats Harass Black Woman Legislator for Voting Pro-Life After debating in favor of a bill that would require ultrasounds before abortions, Democrat leaders openly harassed, threatened and belittled Democratic Rep. Daphnee Campbell. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/04/florida-democrat-harassed-by-democrats-after-voting-pro-life/

“Drug offenses, gun charges, theft and drunken driving turned up in the backgrounds of some state lawmakers when the entire Pennsylvania General Assembly was checked against public records, news accounts and other sources,” Mark Scolforo of the Associated Press reports. One in particular stands out: The most extensive arrest record the AP search turned up belonged to Rep. John Myers, D-Philadelphia. His only conviction was a February 1987 guilty plea to having an unlicensed .38-caliber handgun, with an obliterated serial number, concealed in his vehicle, according to court records. He was sentenced to 15 months' probation. Myers also was charged...

OGDEN -- Former Utah House Majority Leader Kevin Garn is listed as a creditor in the bankruptcy filing last week of a woman he paid to keep silent about a nude hot-tubbing incident more than two decades ago, when she was 15. Court documents filed Friday indicate Cheryl Ann Maher, of Derry, N.H., owes Garn, who lives in Layton, $153,300 because she defaulted on a 2002 contract. Maher said Monday she listed Garn as a creditor in her Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition as a precaution to prevent him from demanding repayment of hush money in the 1985 hot tub incident....

A dash-cam video of the DUI arrest of Sheldon Killpack last January shows the then-Senate majority leader weaving slightly, brushing a center line and clipping a curb after the Highway Patrol trooper's lights turned on and he pulled off the road. "Talking with you I can smell the alcohol. How much alcohol have you had tonight?" asks Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Raymond Thomson. Killpack, wearing a black baseball cap and sweater vest, initially tells the trooper that he had not been drinking and the smell was his passenger, who was later identified as lobbyist and former state Rep. Mark Walker....

American voters have taken many zigs and zags over the years when choosing their country's chief executive. But one of the amazing consistencies is: They prefer chief executives in the executive office. Five of the last six presidents have been executives -- four governors and one sitting vice president. The only exception is the current incumbent, Barack Obama, who as his bipartisan critics tried to point out in 2007-08, had never even run a candy store, let alone a country. He was a law lecturer, a state senator and, briefly, a U.S. senator. He is one of only three sitting...

SALT LAKE CITY — House Majority Leader Kevin Garn admitted as the Legislature adjourned Thursday night to a nude hot tubbing incident with a teenage girl 25 years ago. In a tearful statement in a packed House chambers, Garn said the mistake has "now come back to haunt me" as the woman has gone public with the story. The Layton Republican said he entered into a confidentiality agreement with the woman in 2002 and paid her $150,000. "I was 28 years old and I foolishly went hot-tubbing with a young woman nearly half my age. Although we did not have...

Just moments after the close of the 2010 legislative session, House majority leader Kevin Garn dropped a bombshell in front of all his colleagues that eight years ago he paid a woman $150,000 to keep a hot tub incident quiet. That incident happened 25 years ago, he said. “Twenty-five years ago I made a mistake that has come back to haunt me,” said Garn as his wife sat quietly next to him. “I expect to suffer public humiliation and embarrassment.” Garn said there was no sexual contact with the girl who was “half his age” and that he has told...

Too bad Barack Obama hasn’t followed through on his promises of legislative transparency. Then we all could have watched Harry Reid live on C-SPAN handing an oversized Publishers Clearing House–style $100 million check to Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson. The highest-profile Democratic hold-out on Obamacare, Nelson said last week, “My vote is not for sale.” He obviously meant that in the sense that he’d be righteously indignant at any suggestion that his vote could possibly be bought for anything less than the low nine digits. Nelson got the feds to pick up forevermore 100 percent of the additional Medicaid spending that...

(IsraelNN.com) Dafydd Elis-Thomas, the Muslim speaker of the Welsh Assembly, said he will boycott a meeting with Ron Prosor, the Israeli Ambassador to Britain. He explained that Israel has failed "to meet its international obligations to the Palestinian people." Prosor said he is not changing his plans for the meeting that was initiated by another Muslim assembly member. "The voices calling for a boycott of such discussion are missing an opportunity to encourage mutual understanding and are clearly acting in a non-constructive way," said Prosor, who last week wrote in a British newspaper that Britain has become a "hotbed for...

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri legislator was charged with a felony Thursday for allegedly driving away after hitting a pedestrian with his pickup truck. Authorities say state Rep. Brad Robinson was driving the truck that hit a 46-year-old man south of St. Louis in the early hours of New Year's Day. His wife, Tara, had told police she was driving, but authorities say a high school's surveillance camera captured the couple switching seats in the truck moments after the accident. The Democratic lawmaker from Bonne Terre was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and could get up...

An irate Venezuelan politician rushed a television journalist conducting his show on Tuesday (November 20), attacking him for what she claims to be slander. A supporter of President Hugo Chavez' socialist party, representative Iris Varela stormed onto the set of Gustavo Azocar's television show, slapping him, breaking his glasses, hitting him with a microphone and overturning furniture. Azocar, who also published a book denouncing several members of the Chavez administration for corruption, said he had invited Varela to defend herself on his show. "When we presented the book in Caracas -- and there are videos -- I said that if...

Former legislator likely faces four years or more in prison Former state Rep. Pete Kott, a 14-year veteran of the Legislature and one-time House speaker, was convicted Tuesday by a federal jury of conspiring with Veco Corp. executives to push an oil tax favored by industry. Jurors convicted the Eagle River Republican of conspiracy, bribery and extortion. They acquitted him of a fourth felony charge, wire fraud, that was based on a single cell phone conversation that went across state lines.