Give me a break.

My mother used to tell me, “When you’re mad as hell, hold your breath and count to ten before you say anything.”

I did better than that; I waited overnight before expressing my thoughts about the comments by disgraced senator Norm McAllister on the preliminary vote to suspend him from office.

My first reaction was, “Weak tea.  Too little, too late.”

I was profoundly disappointed that only three of the five committee members voted to suspend; a status that still allows Mr. McAllister to collect his salary and represent himself as a senator.

That was before I read Mr. McAllister’s braying response to the charges, in which he represents himself as the victim and threatens lawsuits:

In a short, emotional speech before the committee, McAllister said the charges had “sullied everything that I have ever done in my adult life”
No, Mr. McAllister, it is you and you alone who have sullied everything you’ve done.

It is ironic that he has chosen the language of abuse to characterize his own situation:

”I see it as, when you got somebody down on their knees, go kick ‘em in the head,” McAllister said. “And that’s the way I look at this proceeding.”

Mr. McAllister says he thinks his constituents will sue the senate on his behalf, for being deprived of representation.

Is he kidding us? Any and all of his constituents with whom I am familiar (of every political stripe) wanted him gone as soon as the content of his confessional conversations with the victims became known.

A more likely scenario is that some of those same constituents, fed up with Mr. McAllister’s refusal to accept responsibility for his appetites and voluntarily step down from the senate, will be motivated to sue Mr. McAllister for depriving them of legitimate representation in the face of conclusive evidence that he, at the very least, has grossly violated community standards.

Mr. McAllister’s remarkable selfishness, both before and after the fact, cannot be disputed.

Perhaps he is hoping to mount an insanity defense in his trial, and all of his pompous bloviating is a deliberate effort to reinforce the argument that his aberrant behaviors stem from delusional issues.

Somehow, I doubt that defense will prove effective.  Everyone accepts that these are not the sexual practices associated with a healthy mind; but to allow that as a mitigating argument would leave the community undefended.

I sincerely hope the trial will be held right here in St. Albans so that his constituents can freely attend, as should be their right.

It will no doubt be most instructive to learn what else the State’s Attorney has learned about Mr. McAllister’s habits.

About Sue Prent

Artist/Writer/Activist living in St. Albans, Vermont with my husband since 1983. I was born in Chicago; moved to Montreal in 1969; lived there and in Berlin, W. Germany until we finally settled in St. Albans.

One thought on “Give me a break.

  1. Lawsuit? Ha! Idle threats, mere bluff & bluster. Sources from news account(s) say he’s claiming constituents want to sue but … don’t have the money … then further claims he doesn’t have any himself either [???] Oh, and he doesn’t even have the money to “evict the tenents”. The more he says & does displays a blind arrogance.
    http://vtdigger.org/2015/12/17/franklin-county-lawmakers-question-mcallister-lawsuit-claim/
    Soo, as Jake Blues said to the Penguin “I guess you’re really up shit creek” senator.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkowVU5mZI

    Just wants to kick their broken lives from their home to the curb like garbage sacks and get on with his life and career. Wow.

    Ppl say nutty things when losing their marbs. Appears to be appeal for pity minus taking any responsibility while still claiming to be the victim here. “I’m on the floor and you kick me in the head” Project much senator.
    http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/awaiting-sex-assault-trial-norm-mcallister-says-hes-the-victim/Content?oid=2948183

    Senate colleagues have acted as ambassadors only to be accused of “bullying” by McAllister. Meanwhile the apologists aiding & abetting this drama acting as enablers all while spouting high and mighty rhetoric behind the flimsy facade of ‘right to fair trial’ knowing full well it is pure bullshit. The ones with legal backgrounds know better.

    Studiously avoiding the facts & that a temporary suspension is nothing more than what could be expected of any official esp a “lawmaker” who is unable to do the job for whatever reason or brings a media circus to the workplace. Flory claims if lawmakers are distracted that’s their problem [???] As his senate supporters make specious and silly arguments rationales are equally as ridiculous. Weird behavior like bending over backwards to protect elitist club and its members quite a spectacle.

    Rules, laws and ethics are only for you little people we do what we want – suck it up peasants.

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