The Kansas GOP continues to find the back seat of a police car a comfortable location for their elected officials. Yesterday, Rep. Mark Samsel was arrested on school grounds for misdemeanor battery. The Sunflower State Journal reported the details today. The school district is unable to comment further beyond acknowledging the event happened in an arts class for which Samsel was the substitute. From KSHB News:
Superintendent Ryan Bradbury told 41 Action News that authorities were contacted immediately and an investigation was carried out, emphasizing how important student safety is to the district.
Neither he nor anyone else in the district was able to say what the nature of the incident was, but the teacher was arrested for misdemeanor battery.
Samsel made national news a few weeks ago for his profound thoughts on the rights held in a marriage, per the Kansas Reflector:
TOPEKA — Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel cautioned his colleagues Thursday in a speech on the House floor about the dangers of criminalizing “a routine act” between a husband and wife.
Current Kansas law shields spouses from prosecution for sexual battery. House Bill 2120 would make it a crime for one spouse to touch the other with the intent to arouse sexual desires without consent.
“To me, it gets to what does the sanctity of marriage mean?” Samsel said. “And I’m single, so I’m not the best person to speak to this. But when you do get married, what does that mean? And what implied consent are you giving?”
Samsel may now need to ask what kind of consent a student gives to a teacher. I guess we’ll have to find out.
Update Saturday:
Saturday, May 1, 2021 · 3:41:40 PM +00:00 · Christopher Reeves
Video of the event has emerged.
According to the Sunflower State Journal, Samsel attacked Republican leadership for votes on the transgender bill, discussed masturbation, hugged a student reportedly inappropriately. In a rambling back and forth, Samsel also left in statements which — at best — are hard to justify.
Throughout the day, high school students began recording videos of the lawmaker talking about suicide, sex, masturbation, God and the Bible.
In one video shared with The Star, Samsel tells students about “a sophomore who’s tried killing himself three times,” adding that it was because “he has two parents and they’re both females.”
“He’s a foster kid. His alternatives in life were having no parents or foster care parents who are gay,” Samsel tells students. “How do you think I’m going to feel if he commits suicide? Awful.”
The video — which contains students (minors) and so will not be republished, contains the Representative discussing everything from masturbation to need for better Republicans. Rep. Samsel referred to it all as a “setup”, in the end, telling Sunflower State that:
“Somebody would ask a question and then I injected using extreme humor and perhaps inappropriate, but that’s art.”
He added, “Granted, I’m not a real teacher. I’m substitute teacher doing the best of my ability, but I know those kids are going to remember that message and I pray to God that they make good decisions and better decisions like I need to, obviously.”