Welcome to the 736th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Rhode Island State Senator Nicholas Kettle, who first stumbled his way into office to represent District 21 at the age of but twenty in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, after winning the GOP Primary by only 23 votes, and then the general election with only 51% of the vote. He became the youngest person elected to the State Senate at the time. That historic milestone will not, however, be what is remembered about Kettle, who kept narrowly hanging on for four terms in office.
See, it’s kind of hard for us to take exception to Kettle’s voting record, which did included voting for stricter voting ID measures to prevent the statistically non-existent problem of “in-person” voter fraud, and no less than four votes against raising the minimum wage during the greatest period of income equality in our country’s history. Kettle first some made headlines in 2014 for being caught using sock puppet accounts on social media to attack his colleagues, and was fined on two occasions for campaign finance violations.
But the real reason we’re profiling Nicholas Kettle is that in February of 2018, he was arrested after his girlfriend found his iPad lying about, and discovered that on it, Kettle had taken nude photos of her without her consent. What was Kettle’s motive? To trade the nudes for nude photos of a friend’s wife. Kettle’s text message history showed he asked for tips on how to film but be “stealthy”, so he was well aware he was committing a crime. Also, Kettle and his “friend” talked about trying to swap partners, proposing group sex with their girlfriends, and a tendency to share pictures of their own genitalia with each other…
While police were investigating that matter, a second complaint got filed by a former page within the Rhode Island State Senate in 2011, who claimed Kettle tried extorting him for sexual favors when he was a teenager, (yes, it’s another Republican caught chasing boys) threatening he would end his own political aspirations if he did not concede. Kettle had even boasted of the sexual encounter with two friends, who came forward to help investigators.
Nicholas Kettle’s colleagues were ready to vote on his expulsion when he resigned, and in his resignation letter, he whined about not receiving due process. That due process saw him end up pleading guilty to two counts video voyeurism and getting three years of probation to avoid jail time. He’ll likely be on sex offender lists for the rest of his life, which means we aren’t foreseeing him having a political comeback. (Also, what an ***hole.)
One Year Ago, March 2nd, 2018: Michael Baumgartner (WA)…2018 Update
Two Years Ago, March 2nd, 2017: Michael Baumgartner (WA)… 2017 Update
Three Years Ago. March 2nd, 2016: Michael Baumgartner (WA)… 2016 Update
Four Years Ago, March 2nd, 2015: Michael Baumgartner (WA)… Original Profile