Rachel Maddow: Wisconsin GOP senator hid alleged sexual misconduct by party ‘rising star’

By Arturo Garcia/Raw Story

While a Wisconsin Republican faces allegations of sexual misconduct, it is the way some of those allegations were kept secret by U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) that is really rocking the state, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow says on her show Tuesday.

The alleged victim worked on Johnson’s staff when state Rep. Bill Kramer allegedly assaulted her in 2011. At the time, the woman declined to press charges, saying she did not want to cause “embarassment” to herself or the party. But she did inform both Johnson and his chief of staff, Tony Blando.

Maddow explained that the woman and her lawyer sent Kramer a letter warning him that if he was accused of similar behavior in the future, that she would alert the authorities. Kramer, who became majority leader in September 2013, was stripped of his powers after being accused of fondling and harassing two different women during a party fundraiser in Washington D.C. this past February.

“In the interim, he has risen steadily through the ranks of Wisconsin Republicans,” Maddow said. “He was elected majority leader for the Republicans. And in all that time, neither Senator Johnson nor his chief of staff apparently said ‘beep’ to anyone about this guy maybe being a bad choice he was for leadership.”

Johnson’s association with the alleged victim, Maddow said, came to light because of what she described as a shoddy attempt by authorities to redact the police report related to the incident with “magic marker.”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Johnson’s office failed to inform either Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) or former speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R), who was serving in that position at the time of the alleged attack.

“She requested that Senator Johnson and Mr. Blando keep the matter confidential and take no further action,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. “Senator Johnson and Mr. Blando fully honored her request.”

Kramer has been charged with two counts of felony sexual assault following the alleged victim’s statement to the authorities. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

“From the start of this story to the present of this story, it has never felt like this story was under control,” Maddow said. “And on Monday, it will go to court. But in Wisconsin politics, it is officially out of control entirely.”

Watch Madddow’s commentary, as aired on Tuesday, below.

Pennsylvania county Republican chairman accused of sexual assault after GOP dinner

By David Edwards/Raw Story

The chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Committee in Pennsylvania is reportedly being investigated for allegedly getting drunk and sexually assaulting a woman following a GOP dinner last month.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Chairman Robert J. Kerns got drunk at what the paper called a “major GOP power-broker dinner” on Oct. 25 and then sexually assaulted the woman.

“Somebody alleged that he was drinking and sexually assaulted her,” a source told the Philadelphia Daily News. “It was supposedly a woman that worked with him. It took place the following evening, 24 hours later – not associated with the county dinner.”

WCAU reported that investigators had been seen at Kerns’ home in Upper Gwynedd. One source told the station that a search warrant had been filed to obtain evidence in the case.

A Center City defense attorney confirmed to WCAU that he had been retained to represent Kerns, but would not say why. The District Attorney’s office has also declined to comment.

Kerns, who is a partner in a Lansdale law firm, is married and has two grown sons.

Watch this video from WCAU, broadcast Nov. 13, 2013.

Fox News host: ‘Why is MSNBC devoting time’ to sexual assaults instead of IRS?

By David Edwards/Raw Story
Fox News host Andrea Tantaros wants to know why MSNBC is “prioritizing” sexual assaults in the military over a scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.

As competing hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Appropriations Committee were underway on Tuesday, Tantaros said on her radio show that she couldn’t understand why MSNBC wasn’t devoting more time to the House Republicans’ fourth IRS hearing.

“What are they the place for breaking? Breaking wind? Breaking what? I mean, what are they doing over there?” she asked. “Sex crimes in the military, they are a real issue. There’s no doubt about that. I’m not going to just poo-poo it. What baffles me, though, is the way they prioritize these issues, the timing and tone of this.”

“Why is MSNBC devoting time to this issue?” Tantaros, who also hosts Fox News’ The Five, wondered. “There are so many other issues to deal with.”

“And MSNBC has been on this sexual assaults in the military, like, basically all afternoon, every day for weeks,” Tantaros’ co-host added. “They’re devoting, like, and inordinate amount of time to this. They’re obsessed with it, because that’s what they see when they look at the military.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Tantaros agreed. “I mean, it’s the way that they prioritize these things. It’s unbelievable what they consider to be priorities. And by ‘them,’ I mean the administration and MSNBC because they are the same thing. MSNBC is an arm of the administration.”

A Media Matters analysis of Tuesday’s cable news coverage found that MSNBC devoted 1 hour and 21 minutes to sexual assaults in the military, while spending 1 hour and 13 minutes on the IRS hearings. Fox News spent almost 4 hours on the IRS hearing and less than 14 minutes on sexual assaults in the military.

Last month, Tantaros instructed her radio listeners to find anyone who voted for President Barack Obama and “punch them in the face.”

Listen to the audio below from The Andrea Tantaros Show, broadcast June 4, 2013.

GOP Senator Suggests Porn Is To Blame For Military Sexual Assaults

By Hayes Brown/Think Progress
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) detoured from a line of questioning about sexual assault in the military to raise the possible connection between the availability of pornography on military bases and sexual attacks on servicemembers.

Sessions joined the Senate Armed Services Committee in time for its second panel of the day, having missed the first session due to a conflicting meeting of the Budget Committee. Once there, Sessions wasted no time diving into the issue, asking several questions of the assembled military commanders in the panel.

During his questioning, however, Sessions brought up his concern that access to pornography on and around military bases was creating “problems” among the soldiers, sailors, and pilots:

SESSIONS: Mr. Chairman, I’d just add a letter, a document here that was given to me from Morality in the Media. Pat Truman used to be in the Department of Justice. I knew him when he was there. He points out that, a picture here of a newsstand and an Air Force base exchange with, you know, sexually explicit magazines being sold. So, we live in a culture that’s awash in sexual activity. If it’s not sold on base, it’s right off base. There are videos and so forth that can be obtained, and it creates some problems, I think.

Sessions then immediately segued into asking questions about the panel’s responses to sexual assault situations, asking what they would do if “you had a female soldier who had felt she was assaulted by an NCO, higher rank,” leaving his previous comments hanging in the air. He didn’t return to them during the rest of his questioning, leaving his full meaning unclear. However, while a few studies have found that pornography makes men more sexually aggressive, there’s no real-world evidence bearing out the claim that this translates into sexist attitudes or sexual violence. In fact, many more recent studies have been unable to show causation between viewing pornography and carrying out sexual violence.

Much discussion has been had over how best to change what has been recognized as a problem with the culture within the military, where sexual assault and rape are severely under-reported. An estimated 26,000 instances of sexual assault in 2012, of which only 3,374 were reported and investigated. A slew of high-profile scandals has also contributed to the view that the armed services are not doing enough to prevent sexual assault in its ranks.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) had also raised several concerning points during the first panel, including that hormones could be sufficiently blamed for sexual assaults and questioning whether the first women to serve on an aircraft carrier were investigated for getting pregnantduring their tour. Chambliss’ comments, though, were tempered with a fair amount of blame directed towards Congress and the military leadership alike. “But guys, we are not doing our job. You’re not doing yours, and we are not doing ours with the rates we are seeing on sexual assaults,” Chambliss said. Sessions showed no such circumspection following his comments.

Facebook page promoting violence against female Marines reappears, mocking Congress

By David Edwards/Raw Story

A Facebook page that glorified violence against women in the military was shut down after Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) publicly called it to the attention of the secretary of defense and the commandant of the Marine Corps.

In a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Commandant of the Marine Corps James Amos and Principal Deputy Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks on Wednesday, Speier accused the page — which called itself “F’N Wook” — of denigrating women by promoting a “culture of misogyny and sexual harassment.”

Included with the the letters were graphic photographs. One showed a woman with a black eye and and caption that read, “She burned the bacon only once.” One photo was captioned, “This is my rape face.” Another photo of a women with a gun and had the title, “I can ‘bang’ even when I’m not on my back.”

And a photo of three female Marines had the caption, “Lesbian… still goes down on gunny for promotion.”

“Many of the pictures imply women only advance professionally by performing sexual favors,” Speier explained. “And otherwise promote the idea that women are inferior and only useful as sexual objects and sandwich makers.”

The California Democrat noted that the Marine Corps Inspector General was aware of the page and had been monitoring it for over three years.

“The military cannot eradicate [sexual assault] without fundamentally changing its approach, including its tolerance of participation in these kinds of web sites,” the Speier wrote in her letter.

By Wednesday evening, the Facebook page was no longer available. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for taking it down.

A survey released by the Pentagon earlier this week found that members of the U.S. military face more than 70 sexual assaults per day. Speier has introduced legislation to remove rape and sexual assault cases from the chain of command by creating an independent office.

Update: A second “F’N WOOK” page wascreated on Facebook early Thursday morning with many of the same images. The new page also mocks Congress.

Update (2:30 p.m. ET): The second “F’N WOOK” page has been removed from Facebook.

Watch this video from KNTV, broadcast May 9, 2013.

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.