Justice Bill O’Neill is the only “Democrat” on the Ohio Supreme Court and has recently entered the race for Governor. Today, he lost whatever was left of his mind on Facebook.
First, some background. I put Democrat in quotes because O’Neill has always shunned support from the party and basically was elected to the high court in a fluke. Judicial races in Ohio are nonpartisan so voters are often left to choose based on surname familiarity and a common joke in Ohio is if you have an Irish or Catholic sounding name, you’re assured a spot.
More recently, O’Neill announced that, as a veteran, he would no longer attend Cleveland Browns games because he was offended about what he characterized were protests of the flag. Clearly the guy is a little off.
Today, O’Neill lost whatever was left of his goddamned mind. Jumping into the fray over allegations of sexual misconduct, he posted a pre-emptive defense of his own past behavior. It was a stunner:
Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males. As a candidate for Governor let me save my opponents some research time. In the last fifty 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.
Now can we get back to discussing legalizing marijuana and opening the state hospital network to combat the opioid crisis. I am sooooo disappointed by this national feeding frenzy about sexual indiscretions decades ago.
Peace.
!!!!
That is actually the edited version of the post. In its original form, O’Neill actually identified the sex partner in his hayloft tryst.
I guess he thought outing his former lover was going too far.
What is actually wrong with this dude? As you might expect, the Ohio political press corps is absolutely ablaze with general WTF reactions to this post, which among other things, completely conflates consensual sex with the subject at hand, which is unwanted contact, harassment and assault.
One of O’Neill’s opponents, Former Congresswoman Betty Sutton, has already called for O’Neill’s resignation from the bench:
The Ohio media is going absolutely nuts, especially given that earlier this week, a family-values Ohio lawmaker was forced to step down after being caught having sex with another man in his office.
Here’s a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch reporting what happened when he tried to get a comment from O’Neill:
This is going to set off quite a firestorm. Some in the GOP were already calling for O’Neill to step down from the bench in order to run for Governor. Now it appears the Democrats are going to join them.
Happy Friday from the Buckeye State y’all!
Update 1: His campaign manager just resigned:
Update 2: The Plain Dealer was able to catch up with O’Neill, who decided to defend Roy Moore:
O'Neill also defended Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who is facing allegations of sexual harassment from seven women, including molesting a 14-year-old girl.
" Roy Moore apparently seems to be a challenged individual when it comes to morality," O'Neill said. "I think that's very, very clear. He's been convicted of nothing and he's never had the opportunity to defend himself and that violates due process in America. The media is about to determine the election of a United States Senate campaign."
O'Neill also volunteered that he wasn't sure if the number of women he referenced being sexually intimate with was actually 50, because he "doesn't keep count."
Read More
