Creepy Old Pervs in the NH House

It's only Tuesday, but NH State Rep. Jordan Ulery is already having a bad week. As Tuck over at Miscellany Blue reports, Ulery got into a discussion on the House all legislators email system. Somehow a discussion of imaginary gun bans was steered into the land of bestiality, polygamy, and gay marriage by Rep. Ulery.

In an effort to support Ulery, Representative Gary Hopper posted this:

Naturally,  the way to foster respectful dialogue with one's fellow elected public servants in the NH House of Representatives is by posting pictures of scantily clad young women. 

Except that some of Hopper and Ulery's fellow legislators didn't see it that way. They found it insulting, demeaning, and lacking in professionalism. 

This is Ulery's response to those criticisms:

Gals and guys the message is in the comparison between Huston and Chicago, the photo is merely that - a photo to attract attention, it is neither obscene nor demeaning. The rather healthy looking young woman got paid for her pose, she chose a career of modeling in order to be an independent woman. Yet there are several women here objecting to a woman having a career. It may not be your thing, but why object to another, having the necessary skills and attributes, performing?

What does the photo have to do with guns - well it attracted your attention didn’t it?! Hopefully the comparison was read, unless one was too busy looking at the photo.

That is part and parcel of advertising and (the collective we) see it every day on TV, Newspapers, Magazines, movies (there is always the obligatory nude or erotic scene that seems to have very little to do with the plot, eh?) it has become part of society. In the “good old” movie days the screen just faded to black or the door closed (even in Westerns with John Wayne) and what was implied was left to your imagination. At least we don’t have models (male and female) demonstrating how to put on undergarments as appears on some Canadian or European networks, they just prance around in their undies here.

Well, all you sillies - this is a healthy looking young woman who was paid to pose in order to be independent. This is just what we see in advertising every day. Jordan Ulery - who makes a big point on his FB page of presenting himself as a very pious Catholic - is happy to ogle a "healthy young woman" who is at the very least young enough to be his daughter, and quite possibly his granddaughter. 

This may be part and parcel of advertising, but the House email system isn't for advertising. It's for representatives to communicate with one another, and with their constituents. The taxpayers of NH are paying for this system - and I'm pretty sure that most of us are not at all interested in subsidizing the soft porn fantasies of Hopper and Ulery. 

I'm also pretty sure that if the women of the NH House were posting beefcake pictures attached to their emails, the boys would be wailing and moaning in horror. 

I worked in a kitchen once where the walls were covered with pictures and post cards of barely clad "healthy young women." The chef's office was covered with posters of scantily clad busty beer models. 

One night all of the men were off. I took down all of the pictures and replaced them with pictures of barely clad healthy young men. No nudity, just beefcake. My phone started ringing at 6 am, with calls from men who were bordering on hysteria. One sounded on the verge of tears. How could I? What would make me think they wanted to look at pictures like this?

When I asked them what would make them think that I wanted to look at pictures of barely clad women, they stuttered. That's normal, they said.  Half naked buxom babes are the default setting of the world, apparently. Expecting to work in a professional atmosphere was just plain silly of me. 

Getting back to creepy old men in the legislature: 

It's a volunteer legislature - but surely there is a modicum of professional behavior that should be expected from our representatives. Remember former Speaker O'Brien's strict rules about electronic communication on the House email system? 

"Electronic media cannot be used for knowingly transmitting, retrieving, or storing any communication that is: 1. Discriminatory or harassing; 2. Derogatory to any individual or group; 3. Obscene, sexually explicit or pornographic; 4. Defamatory or threatening.  In addition, also prohibited are jokes . . . or any other non-legislative work activity that is not allowed on government computers."

O’Brien warns that “there will be zero tolerance for any violation” of the language section of the policy. Upon any House member violating that section “his or her legislative email privilege will be immediately terminated.”

Ulery and Hopper are both in violation of the rules put into place by their fellow Republican, former Speaker Bill O'Brien.

Why aren't these rules being enforced, House Majority leadership?


h/t to Tuck, Concord Patch, and HuffPo