You’ll recall The Denver Post‘s October bombshell report on Democrat State Representative Jovan Melton’s very-well-documented abuse of women. Our repeated congratulations to Colorado Democrat leadership, who totally/obviously/clearly hadn’t the slightest clue that they had a woman-beater in their mix (that’s sarcasm folks). Brave stuff, gang. Keep walking that walk.
After some initial huffing and puffing (including former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s remarkable insistence that Melton was somehow the victim of a racially-motivated smear campaign… because journalists uncovered that Melton beat women…?), those same Colorado Democrat leaders ultimately chose not to act as Melton cruised to reelection in his overwhelmingly liberal district this past November.
The hypocrisy would be hysterical if, you know, this wasn’t about a State Representative beating women. But that’s exactly what this is about.
This morning, Colorado Public Radio reporter Bente Birkeland published one hell of a follow-up story, in which one of Melton’s victims provided a letter that the lawmaker wrote to her shortly after breaking her tailbone, assenting to her request for a restraining order, and related activities befitting of a modern gentleman. The victim, who asked not to be named, told Birkeland that Melton’s response to the Post‘s original reporting was… well, unsatisfactory:
“I was sad to hear the remarks made by Jovan,” said the woman, whose name CPR News is not releasing due to the nature of the allegations. “It is unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize that his past behaviors were unacceptable, hurtful, and simply disrespectful.”
Given Melton’s unwillingness to own up to his being a complete a$$hole who abused women, it would stand to reason that Democrat leadership would now have no choice but to act, right? Well, uh:
“Given the gravity of the situation and the impact on his constituents, as well as public confidence in the state legislature, we encouraged him to resign. Ultimately we made it clear that it was his decision whether to step down from his position,” wrote incoming Speaker KC Becker and Majority Leader Alec Garnett in a statement.
Put another way: “We’re going to posture as if we give a damn about the women who Melton physically hurt, but when push comes to shove (no pun intended), whatever… LOOK! SQUIRREL! CLIMATE CHANGE!”
This, from the party who demanded that we “believe women” during the (now-Associate Justice of the Supreme Court) Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
There’s only one way to put a bow on this: incoming Speaker Becker and Majority Leader Garnett believe women. They just won’t do anything to help them.