{"id":132150,"date":"2017-11-18T02:02:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T07:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=132150"},"modified":"2017-11-18T02:02:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T07:02:26","slug":"candidate-for-ohio-governor-reveals-sexual-past-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/18\/candidate-for-ohio-governor-reveals-sexual-past-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidate for Ohio governor reveals sexual past on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"William<\/a>
William M. O’Neill (Photo by Ohio Progressive – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 A state Supreme Court justice running for governor volunteered candid details of his sexual past on Facebook on Friday, saying he was taking a swipe at the \u201cmedia frenzy\u201d over sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

Democrat William O’Neill’s post was immediately attacked as inappropriate and led to calls for his ouster.<\/p>\n

In it, he wrote that he has been \u201csexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females,\u201d including \u201ca gorgeous blonde\u201d with whom he \u201cmade passionate love\u201d in a hay loft and a \u201cdrop dead gorgeous red head\u201d from Cleveland.<\/p>\n

After posting the message, he edited it to remove some identifying information about the women.<\/p>\n

O’Neill, 70, told The Associated Press the details provided were true and he was trying to make a point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a matter of parody suggesting that, as a governor candidate, I assume I am the next target of the media frenzy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I figure let’s just get it out here on Front Street right here and now,\u201d he added, referring to the street where the Supreme Court building sits.<\/p>\n

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, the first woman to lead the state’s high court, immediately condemned the post.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo words can convey my shock,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThis gross disrespect for women shakes the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n

All other Democrats seeking the governorship \u2014 former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, former state Rep. Connie Pillich and state Sen. Joe Schiavoni \u2014 called for O’Neill to resign, saying he was trivializing the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an attorney, I’m appalled at these remarks of a Supreme Court Justice,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cAs a Democrat, I’m horrified a statewide candidate would belittle victims of sexual harassment and assault this way. And, as a woman, I’m outraged he would equate sexual assault with indiscretion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a day earlier, Sutton unveiled a plan to combat sexual harassment and sexual assault in state government, where two lawmakers have resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations in about a month’s time.<\/p>\n

Others to condemn the post included Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, a Republican candidate for governor; state Democratic Chairman David Pepper; and the Republican National Committee. O’Neill’s campaign spokesman resigned over it.<\/p>\n

The post drew thousands of comments, reactions or shares on Facebook and was a trending topic on Twitter, drawing mostly negative reaction but some positive comments.<\/p>\n

O’Neill said the Facebook post grew out of frustration over Democrats’ calls to remove Al Franken, a Minnesota U.S. senator and former \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d performer, from the U.S. Senate over sexual misconduct allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a United States Senator commits a non criminal act of indiscretion; and when it is brought to his attention he immediately has the integrity to apologize; and the apology is accepted by the victim: IT IS WRONG for the dogs of war to leap onto his back and demand his resignation from the United States Senate,\u201d O’Neill wrote on Facebook, following up on similar remarks he made earlier. \u201cIt is morally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggested calls for removing Franken were part of a \u201cfeeding frenzy\u201d and said his critics should \u201cLighten up folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many critics were particularly offended that O’Neill purported to be \u201cspeaking for all heterosexual males.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNewsflash: no one asked how many notches you have on your belt,\u201d the Republican National Committee’s Ellie Hockenbury wrote in an email. \u201cThe so-called ‘national feeding frenzy’ is about empowering victims of sexual assault or harassment who’ve been afraid to speak up; it’s not an opportunity to brag about your sexual conquests through the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

O’Neill’s candidacy had already been under scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Republicans have launched efforts to remove O’Neill from the bench for violating a prohibition in the judicial code of conduct against running for a non-judicial office while serving on the bench. O’Neill argues he will not be a \u201ccandidate\u201d under that rule until he files the necessary paperwork in February.<\/p>\n

O’Neill told the AP this week he will not run for governor if Democrat Richard Cordray does. Corday resigned his post as federal consumer chief Wednesday and is widely expected to make a bid for governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 A state Supreme Court justice running for governor volunteered candid details of his sexual past on Facebook …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":132167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,16],"tags":[33876,33875],"class_list":["post-132150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-news","tag-democrat-william-oneill","tag-ohio-governor","mauthors-julie-carr-smyth","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}