He must resign.
RIP, Don Shooter. Your political career just died. Cause of death: your inexcusable behavior, brought to light as a result of the “Me Too” movement sparked by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
In Shooter’s case, it’s now up to “Me Too” times eight. A number that should equal resignation.
On Tuesday evening, Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita accused the powerful chairman of the state House Appropriations Committee of sexual harassment.
By Friday, eight women, including three state legislators and the publisher of the state’s largest newspaper, were telling tales about experiences with Shooter that ranged from crass to just plain creepy.
Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, told Channel 3 (KTVK)’s Dennis Welch that Shooter, R-Yuma, made comments about her chest and repeatedly came on to her despite her telling him to cut it out.
At a work conference, she says, he knocked on her door with a six-pack of beer, but she didn’t answer. In 2011, she says, he told her that he was in love with her.
“He tells me that he loves me and asks if there’s an opportunity for us to be together in the future,” she wrote in a memo documenting the June 2011 incident.
Ugenti-Rita says she notified Senate leadership, but nothing was done about it.
Shooter vehemently denied the allegations — calling Ugenti-Rita a liar, accusing her of having an affair with a House staffer and pointing out that she once made a joke about masturbation during a public hearing.
Cue the dam break. By Wednesday afternoon, other women were coming forward to talk about their encounters with Shooter, ranging from 2011 to 2017.
Democratic lobbyist Marilyn Rodriguez told the Arizona Capitol Times’
Rachel Leingang that Shooter, in 2013, maneuvered her into going to dinner to discuss a bill and, during the meal, put his hand on her knee.
Freshman Rep. Athena Salman, DTempe, said she was introduced to Shooter during the first week of this year’s session. Shooter’s response, she said, was “You’ll be a nice view to look at.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Wenona Benally,
In Shooter’s case, it’s now up to “Me Too” times eight. A number that should equal resignation.
D-Window Rock, released a statement saying she was sitting in the House lounge earlier this year when Shooter joked with another male legislator about the “gun” in his pants.
“Rep. Shooter repeatedly referred to his male genitalia as a ‘gun,’ ” Benally wrote. “The conversation made me extremely uncomfortable.”
On Friday, Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, recounted her first (and, one would hope, only) encounter with Shooter — one in which he felt compelled to tell her about his regret that he didn’t do “those Asian twins” in Mexico.
Parrish is of Asian descent.
If he would say this to the powerful newspaper publisher — and in front of the newspaper’s lawyer, no less — can you imagine how he might act around other women?
Like a 19-year-old Capitol intern. Kendra Penningroth told Leingang that 65-year-old Shooter wrapped her in a hug and ran his hands down her back during a Best of the Capitol awards ceremony earlier this year.
“It wasn’t like a colleague, side hug,” she told Leingang. “It was like a bear hug. He pushed my face into his chest, which was weird . ... I had never met him before. Ever.”
Leingang also documented the story of a city employee who described a similar bear hug at a 2015 League of Arizona Cities and Towns conference, with the always welcome addition of a butt grab.
Because what woman doesn’t want a guy like Shooter to feel up her backside?
(Answer: None of us do, Don, with the possible exception of your wife of 41 years.)
Meanwhile, lobbyist Geoff Esposito recounted to Leingang an incident during this year’s legislative session in which Shooter made inappropriate sexual comments to two female lobbyists. One of the lobbyists, who was not named by Leingang due to fear of retribution, said the comments were extreme and sexual in nature.
Esposito told Leingang he tried to intervene after getting an SOS text from one of the women, but that Shooter pushed him out of the way, saying, “I’m working on something here, buddy.”
Yep: the end of your political career.