Tom Luna
UPDATE 6:11 p.m. MST: Truth Seeker
Sisyphus wrote:
Here's the first half of the Luna Cronin City Club debate. Please observe the 28:20 mark and the Luna Cronin exchange that the media was anxious to question them about afterwards. At 28:29 Luna's second grab was clearly done with animosity. In the law, an offensive touching is called a battery.
Crossposted on 43rd State Blues
Audios of fiery exchange: from Tom Luna toward Brian Cronin.
You decide!
According to Besty Russell: Here's how fiery the debate between state schools chief Tom Luna and Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, got at the City Club of Boise today: After the debate, Cronin accused Luna of grabbing his arm after his opening remarks and berating him. “He grabbed my arm rather forcefully and got in my face and said, 'That's the biggest bullshit I've ever heard,'” Cronin said. “I looked at the people at the lead table and I think they saw that I was visibly alarmed, shaken, but that's what he said. He grabbed my arm hard enough such that I spilled my water. … When he tried to touch me again, I told him not to touch me.”
Luna's spokeswoman, Melissa McGrath, said, “He never used that language. That's completely inaccurate.”
Supposedly, the exchange wasn't picked up on the event's microphones.
Russell wrote that Luna denied afterward that he'd become angry with Cronin at any point during the forum. “I think we both were passionate,” he said.
Here is Betsy's audio of the exchange.
I also have this enhanced MP3 of the exchange. Luna's voice is bassy so you might need headphones. The cuss is between 1 second and 3.5 seconds in this one.
What do you hear?