An Ohio Supreme Court justice has been denounced for responding to sexual misconduct allegations against Sen Al Franken by bragging of his prolific sexual exploits.
Mr Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, apologised this week after broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused him of groping and kissing her non-consensually during a 2006 tour, when Mr Franken was a comedian and had not yet been elected. She shared a photo of Mr Franken grasping her breasts as she slept.
Elected officials, including Democrats, swiftly denounced Mr Franken. But Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill had a different take, posting on his Facebook page that the “dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken” and blasting a “national feeding frenzy about sexual indiscretions decades ago”.
He also detailed his own history.
“As a candidate for Governor let me save my opponents some research time,” Mr O’Neill wrote. “In the last 50 years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females. It ranged from a gorgeous blonde who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn and ended with a drop dead gorgeous red head from Cleveland”.
A spokesman for Mr O’Neill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor released a statement assailing Mr O’Neill’s post.
“I condemn in no uncertain terms Justice O’Neill’s Facebook post”, she said. “No words can convey my shock. This gross disrespect for women shakes the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.”
In a previous post this week, Mr O’Neill weighed in on the mounting sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. Several women have alleged Mr Moore made advances on them when they were teenagers, and multiple have alleged he groped them (Mr Moore has denied any wronging, saying in a statement that “I have never engaged in sexual misconduct”).
“I couldn’t help laughing out loud about a comment I heard on MSNBC this morning”, Mr O’Neill wrote. “‘Voters in Alabama have to choose to vote between a child molester and a Democrat’ Now there’s clarity for you”.
