Jesus. Doesn’t anyone behave at the State Capitol? A campaign staffer, Thomas Cavaness, has come forward to claim that Rep. Paul Rosenthal of Denver broke the first rule he probably learned in Kindergarten – to keep his hands to himself. That’s according to Colorado Politics, which broke the story this afternoon. Rosenthal subsequently called his accuser a “liar”.
Here’s the testimony of Rosenthal’s accuser:
“I hate being called a liar, but very rarely do sexual predators when faced with accusations do they admit to their crimes. I feel numb, I feel nervous, but in a way, I also feel proud that I have been able to come forward and I hope it allows others to come forward. there’s a certain weight that’s been taken off my shoulders by putting this out there publicly.”
Rosenthal responded by offering excuses for the fact that he may have touched or may have kissed Cavaness on the cheek or touched his thigh. Here are two of Rosenthal’s excuses:
- “Rosenthal told The Post “it’s fairly common” with gay men to give hugs rather than shake hands when greeting people, and that, ‘It’s possible I gave him a hug, but I can’t think of anything sexual because I’m very careful about that sort of thing — to not come across that way to someone particularly who I just met.'”
- “He later said ‘it’s probable’ he tried to kiss him on the cheek ‘if we felt close at that moment’ but said he did not act inappropriately, and that ‘if it was a flirt, it was a good-natured flirt.'”
Oh, so Rosenthal is a “good-natured” flirt. Why didn’t he just say so?
Apparently, in Rosenthal’s world, it’s ok to touch people when they don’t want to be touched by him if he is good natured about the violation. Got it. Sorry we were so confused. We must be confused because if this was a Republican who touched someone inappropriately, the left would be howling about the boundaries that said Republican had crossed.
But, since he’s a Democrat, it’s ok as long as he’s good natured about it.