A state lawmaker under fire for leaving a message filled with obscenities and a racial slur on a colleague’s voice mail resigned Wednesday and was charged with two crimes.
Rep. Ralph Arza, who had been urged to step down by fellow Republicans, including Gov. Jeb Bush, apologized for his actions and said he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the work of the GOP-led Legislature.
And I love this part…
Arza acknowledged leaving the message on fellow Republican Rep. Gus Barreiro’s voice mail last month but said he was drunk.
…I’m so old I still remember when Republicans stood for personal responsibility!
Prosecutors charged Arza with retaliating against and tampering with a witness, both felonies, for allegedly trying to thwart the investigation of the complaint.
Soon a politician is going to be found with a dead boy in their bedroom and he’s gonna blame it on the sauce!
…but John Kerry hates the troops.
Mr. Potty Mouth Arza would make Dick Cheney proud.
Are they putting something in the water down there in Florida?
It’s really too bad. I used to consider myself a “conservative”, but since 1990 or so, I haven’t been able to identify with the Republicans.
I want a government that spends less money than it takes in. I want a government that stays out of personal lives, and leaves personal choices such as homosexuality and abortion and right to life up to individuals, not the government. I want more oversight into business to keep them from violating my personal needs and not use regulation to reward themselves while putting themselves above the rule.
I find it amusing that Kerry screws up a joke, and it causes a huge turmoil – I guess if he had checked himself into rehab, all would have been forgiven.
I think that all of them pleading the twenty-first amendment (I was drunk at the time because of the repeal of prohibition), will lead to some cornservatives asking for a reinstatement of the eighteenth amendment, which, as you all know, was the one that created prohibition.
>still remember when Republicans stood for personal responsibility
Yeah, they made their guys resign while Democrats cheered about how great their guy is.
…for allegedly trying to thwart the investigation of the complaint.
Cripes!
Nixon: I am not a crook…
Clinton: I did not have sex with that woman…
Why are people still learning that it is the cover-up – much more than the crime – which will flush their career down the toilet. 🙁
Another reason not to Drink and Dial.
>Yeah, they made their guys resign while Democrats cheered about how great their guy is.
They made thier guys resign ONLY after it became public. It’s apparently ok for Republican congressmen to solicit sex with minors under the age of consent as long as the public doesn’t know about it. More republican, conservative, hipocritical bullshit. The democrats ain’t got nothin’ on the Replublicans when it comes to obfuscation and zealotry. You guys are the KINGS.
And I wonder how a private message between two Republican officials became public? Must have been the CIA looking for Osama.
RBG
#10 Yes, we ALL know how upstanding, forthright, honest, and wise-decision making Democrat politicians are.
Child molesters need to have their peepees smacked with a hammer and then castrated. Those that look the other way need a swift kick in the crotch at a minimum.
When did calling people names become a crime?
“When did calling people names become a crime?”
Read the article. Heck, at the very least, read the small section I quoted. The name calling had nothing to do with the charge. Threatening a witness has always been a crime.
#14
Here’s a quote from the article:
“He said he had learned that Barreiro had filed a complaint accusing him of using a racial epithet to refer to Miami-Dade County School Superintendent Rudy Crew, who is black. He used the same epithet in his phone message to Barreiro, who is Hispanic, but has vehemently denied ever using a racial slur to refer to Crew.
Prosecutors charged Arza with retaliating against and tampering with a witness, both felonies, for allegedly trying to thwart the investigation of the complaint.”
So he was originally being investigated for name-calling. Again, when did calling somebody a name become a crime?
with something like this, what difference does it make if the guys republican or democrat, conservative or liberal. as far as im concerned, the fact that he’s republican has absolutely nothing to do with the mistake he made. everyone makes mistakes.
“So he was originally being investigated for name-calling. Again, when did calling somebody a name become a crime?”
Mike, racial discrimination has been illegal since the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments. Why do you feel a need to defend it at this late date?