From the Argus:
A South Dakota lawmaker who admitted to having sex with two legislative interns during his time in office resigned Monday.
Rep. Mathew Wollmann, R-Madison, submitted his resignation letter Monday morning, House Majority Leader Lee Qualm, R-Platte, confirmed.
Sounds like $6000 a year isn’t worth the silliness & media circus.
Will other offenders follow suit?
What about past legislators that had sex with other legislators? All consenting adults.
If were both legislators at the time it’s probably not a violation of the rules. If one is now a lobbyist and the other is a sitting legislator there certainly is a perception of wrong doing.
We’ve set the precedent that what happens in prior sessions is fair game. Not exactly the legislature’s finest hour for a number of reasons.
The one I feel for is his current fiance….you get engaged to someone with a promising career and happy as all can be and this kind of media circus occurs….
praying for her too
Yes. And what if one of the them was in a leadership role and had sway in the caucuses?
This was a good decision by Wollmann. No matter how you spin it, it’s not acceptable for an elected legislator to engage in this behavior with interns. We wouldn’t accept it if our Governor or other elected official was banging their intern – even if it was ‘consensual.’ We didn’t respect Clinton for doing the same. We shouldn’t excuse this because Wollmann was only 24 and has an R behind his name.
Frankly, Stace Nelson is right about this — their should be an explicit rule against it.
Completely disagree… If the Governor was single I wouldn’t care if he hooked up with his staff or interns. Clinton got in trouble for a) doing it in the Oval Office and more importantly b) lying about it… Who can the legislators hook up with then? Each other? Any state employee? Legislators don’t have supervision or authority of the interns, LRC does… I absolutely get that someone might disagree with me and can use that as a reason to vote someone out, but not make a rule forbidding a natural inclination. And where does it stop? Can legislators take interns on dates and just not be physical? What constitutes a date? A male legislator takes an male intern out for dinner or to a banquet? Is that not a date, regardless of intimacy?
Stace Nelson is the biggest ass in the state. Now he’ll go after somebody else.
Especially if he keeps winning. The guy is a one man wrecking crew.
The thing is he is a dog with a bone. His day will come sooner or later when a bigger dog comes along that cares more and is a bit smarter.
Could Wollman be pulling out to save the reputation of the interns and their families? Names could possibly come out in the investigation?
Stace IS an ass. I grew with the comments above. But Wollmann made his own bed with his indescretions and poor judgement. Wollmann is a class act guy, he just needs to gain some life experience.
One could see in the end this entire matter turns out to be “Lützenian.”
This is a witch hunt and as disgusting and pathetic as they were hundreds of years ago they still stink. Yes Wollman should have known better but this shouldn’t have been as big a deal as it’s blown up to be sadly. But Stace wanted to stone him and got his chance. I’m sure his closet is just as clean. And the rest of the legislators in Pierre, spinless politicians, should have stopped this before allowing them all to look bad. By downgrading it to workplace romance, not affair. This circus could have been avoided and a good man would still be doing good things for his state. Instead you let a bully walk all over you. Pathetic.
Yep Stace the pillar of morality, just ask any of his numerous wives
I think Stace has some explaining to do about his buddy dating an intern, and Stace not reporting it.
Lee, who is that?
Don’t the rules require anyone who has knowledge of a situation like this to report it?
This whole thing was blown way out of proportion and we lost a good legislator with a bright future and time from getting things done. Two to 3 consenting adults. Did Rep. Wollman make a mistake yeah but this could of all been just a simple reminder of setting professional limits and moved on so everyone would know going forward.
Yep I am a person of faith but get real tired of the religious fanatics and Hippocrates in the legislature.
How old was the intern? High school age?
this has been covered, college, reportedly over 21
He has to leave, and Stacey gets to stay. A good legislator is gone, and a terrible one remains. So many things wrong with that picture.
Ideally, Wollmann should have become a power broker among the female interns and pages by manipulating them to supply sexual favors to influential legislators and leaders within the State of South Dakota.
He needed chips to play in this game. Without any resources to fight a battle, he was defenseless and expendable.
In any event, Wollmann was guilty of being selfish with the young women. The older gentlemen were envious or jealous of his conquests. An aspiring politician must show some degree of deference and respect to his betters.
One thing I think many of us forget, is that he was a single man in his early to mid twenties. Abuse of power?? Doubtful.
The only thing that qualifies as abuse of power in this case is the local news outlets using this story to help their own ratings. A reporter trying to make a name for herself blindsided the young congressman with a unethical question about his sex life. Would they ask the same question to a 60 year old congressman? Doubtful.
All that I am saying is that instead of having a good “down to business” session, it has been tainted with a sex scandal that isn’t really a scandal at all.
Is the legislature better off without Wollmann? We shall see.
-DD