The party of questionable “family values” is at it once again. This time Congressman Kevin Cramer (R-At-large) of North Dakota appeared on the conservative “Jarrod Thomas Show” to discuss his feelings about Republican Secretary of State candidate Will Gardner dropping out of the race after revelations he was arrested in 2006. Although currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Cramer is challenging Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), hoping to make the leap to the United States Senate this fall. At the time, Gardner was a 29-year-old married father of two who was caught peeping on women undressing in a North Dakota State dorm. From the Bismark Tribune:
The Forum reported Friday, May 18, that Gardner pleaded guilty in February 2006 to disorderly conduct, a charge that stemmed from a Jan. 13, 2006, incident in which an NDSU security guard said they saw him look through windows at women in a freshman dormitory.
According to court documents, officers said Gardner’s pants were unzipped and his shirt front was pulled out, though he told a reporter that his pants weren’t unzipped. He also said he had watched only one woman undress, through court documents suggested officers witnessed him moving to multiple windows to look into occupied rooms.
The incident prompted an original charge of surreptitious intrusion, but Gardner was instead charged with and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct the next month. He said Friday that “I messed up” and said it was a mistake when he was “young and immature.”
To this day, Gardner’s account does not match those of the three officers who witnessed his prowling. You’d think that would be enough for North Dakota Republicans to distance themselves, but not United States Congressman Kevin Cramer. No sir! on the “Jarrod Thomas Show” Cramer thought Gardner’s withdrawal from the race for secretary of state was premature and he wishes he would’ve weathered the storm. Furthermore, he called Gardner a “good man” and hopes he runs again. Does a good man, a married 29-year-old with two kids at home go creeping outside the women’s dorm with his pants unzipped? Is this someone who should be representing North Dakota? Here are a few of the key quotes from Cramer’s radio appearance, which you can hear below.
On whether he would’ve won the primary if voters had known in advance?
I’m not so sure Will wouldn’t have still won the Republican endorsement had he done, had he revealed this much, much earlier and explained it to people, and in which case, I think he wouldn’t have much of an issue.
Should Gardner have exited the race as quickly as he did once the arrest became public? Cramer thinks he should’ve chilled out for a bit, let the peeping brouhaha die down.
I think that a little time, you know, is always valuable when you are faced with something like this. […] So but you’re right, there was, in my view, there was no urgency for the party to have had to have this settled immediately.
Should Gardner run again some day? Why, of course! Everyone loves to see creepy guys get another chance at public office.
[Could Gardner] one day run for a state office again? I absolutely think there is. I absolutely think there is. And I think that maybe that was part of this calculation of how he handled it because I do think, again, North Dakotans, like other Americans, like the redemption story. Will is that. He is by all measure, by anybody who knows him and knows him well, including his wife, a very good man.
You can hear Cramer brush off the creepy behavior below. But, really, Republicans? Is this who’ve you become? Or have you always been this creepy?
