Relatively obscured by the attention that allegations against former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore received, Florida has been dealing with a similar situation with a man who wants to be the state’s next governor. According to reports that first surfaced in early November, Republican state senator Jack Latvala had made lewd comments to and groped at least six women who worked in the state’s Capitol. And one of the alleged incidents, strangely, followed a tantrum over donuts.
Latvala has spent the past several weeks calling the allegations part of a political witch hunt in an attempt to get him to drop out of the state’s governor’s race (which sounds awfully familiar). However, an independent report by a retired Circuit Court judge has found probable cause to begin a criminal probe into the accusations against Latvala, a move that will surely end his bid for the state’s highest office.
According to one such incident detailed in the report, Latvala yelled at an aide about the lack of donuts in the Senate until Rachel Perrin Rogers, an aide to the state’s Senate majority leader, arrived on the scene and said she would look into “the doughnut situation.” Latvala then allegedly groped her midsection. He has also attempted to paint Rogers’ accusation as politically motivated because her husband works for a political rival’s campaign. However, his smear tactic failed when another accuser, a former Senate aide and lobbyist, came forward to say that Latvala had groped her and promised to vote for whatever she wanted to if she’d have sex with him. She provided text messages as evidence.
Florida’s current governor, Rick Scott, has asked Latvala to resign from the state senate, but he has so far refused.
(Via Miami New Times)