Missouri House Democrat Gina Mitten, representative for parts of Brentwood, Maplewood and Richmond Heights, is seeking signatures on a petition for the removal of Missouri House Speaker John Diehl (R-Town and Country), after the Kansas City Star reported Diehl was exchanging sexually suggestive texts with a college freshman intern, Missourinet reports.
Mitten’s petition calls for Diehl to step aside as Speaker until the allegations can be investigated, not to resign as a state representative.
“I believe that there needs to be an investigation, and I believe that pending that investigation the Speaker, who has been implicated therein, should not be at the dais,” Mitten said.
“This is about the integrity of our body, of our House, and of our rules, and when someone in that position has the allegations, which I take very seriously as a parent … as a parent of a young woman that will be going to school at a Missouri state college next year, I think that it is improper to be at the dais when these allegations are pending,” she said.
Update: Diehl resigned Thursday afternoon over the incident, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Read the full article in Missourinet.
I have to agree with Anne Engle Cummings – and totally disagree with rinstl! It is ironic that you refer to Ms. Mitten as a “leech”, but you can only half-heartedly call the Diehl transgressions as “bad”. The person who believed he could lead MO legislature was sexting an intern during trade discussions and as he sat next to the governor. I know from experience that students cannot fully comprehend lectures, demonstrations, discussions if their attention is on their cellphone. That said I would expect better from an elected official whose very position affected every aspect of my life and my neighbors. Ms. Mitten has always been a straight shooter; I haven’t always agreed with her but I respect her intelligence and commitment. I applaud her efforts to remind the legislature, at least once, that they are elected to meet needs of their constituents. I am incensed that an elected official would a) take advantage of an intern thereby tainting the integrity of that program and b) knowingly put himself in a situation where the need for a new election could cost taxpayers $7 million. Fiscally responsible – not Mr. Diehl.
rinstl, it’s clear that you don’t know Gina Mitten, then. Painting “all” of a group is a tactic used by bullies and blowhards every where. I’ve met Mrs. Mitten because she’s a rep who actually spends a lot of time in the district getting to know her constituency.
If you’re going to write such inflammatory statements, I encourage you to post using your real name. Do you have the guts to actually stand by what you’re saying, or do you plan to just snipe anonymously?
You mean like Hillary’s vote for the invasion? And Bill’s flat out declaration that they had WMDs? And Biden’s? And Pelosi’s? And Reed’s? And Fat Teddy’s?
You mean corporate welfare like Solyndra?
And farm subsidies like ethanol?
Try again, Ms. Bull.
Look, I’m not going to suggest that there is a huge difference in the 2 parties (except for social issues – abortion, gay rights, etc.). But the big (no, make that HUGE) difference between the two on fiscal responsibility is that the American public for the most part recognizes the Democrats as being fiscally responsible. That is definitely not the case with the GOP. When are people going to wake up and realize that the GOP does not have their best financial interest at heart? For every Solyndra, there are many, many larger companies sucking at the Big Gubmint teat. The mere fact that I have to put the word ‘corporate’ in front of welfare says VOLUMES about the whole issue. People should recognize corporate welfare for what it truly is: WELFARE.
So isn’t it “big-government” to start, support, vote for, and lie about WMDs for trillion-dollar wars in the Middle East? Isn’t it “big-government” to support corporate welfare? Isn’t it “big-government” to support farm subsidies (corporate-farm welfare)?
Mitten is a democrat government leech looking for a way to get her name in the media and hurt the opposition.
Whatever the truth of the texting story, (admittedly bad) don’t let the partisan hack hide behind her self-proclaimed rectitude.
She’s a career big government democrat who wouldn’t know “integrity” if it bit her.
.
They are all leeches. That’s our system it seems.