Iowa Republican State Rep. Ross Paustian was photographed reading a book titled Sex After Sixty during a recent House session.
Brianne Pfannenstiel, a statehouse reporter for the Des Moines Register, tweeted the picture with the comment that Rep. Paustian was “clearly engaged in this debate:”
https://twitter.com/brianneDMR/status/577961543171600384/photo/1
This isn’t the first time that a Republican Iowa State Representative has been caught on camera while distracted during a session. It isn’t even the first time it has happened this year. Progress Iowa tweeted a picture of Rep. Clel Baudler watching Netflix during a session:
Rep. Clel Baudler watches @netflix while @IAHouseGOP tries to pass bill to bully teachers #ialegis #standwithteachers pic.twitter.com/TKgA5kE8UA
— Progress Iowa (@ProgressIowa) March 18, 2015
Rep. Paustian claimed that the book was not really a guide to sex for people over 60, but rather a gag gift from Rep. Robert Bacon, another Republican in the Iowa State House. According to Paustian, the pages are all completely blank, and he wasn’t really reading anything:
“The main thing is I was totally engaged in what was going on on the floor…I knew what was going on. I knew how we were going to vote on amendments. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on.”
Considering that the debate was over teachers’ collective bargaining rights, maybe Iowa’s teachers should show up at House sessions and teach these reps to at least look like they’re paying attention. I had a teacher who would throw chalk at the kids who fell asleep during class. I can only imagine how they would handle a grown man pretending to read a sex book gag gift, a book that by his own admission is completely blank.
Source: Raw Story