Did any of you catch the news showing our esteemed Comptroller ogling a 20-something year old woman and then asking her to come back so he could watch her walk away from him again - at a televised event?!

She says she won't press charges for sexual harrassment, but OMG! What a CREEP this guy is!

What kills me too is the number of people who spoke out on the news trying to make excuses for the guy. After seeing what he did, I am totally flabbergasted! He should be canned and charges filed immediately! We don't need that kind of disgusting creep walking around in public, much less serving our State as an elected official! What a freakin' Neanderthal!

Just my humble opinion, but OMG! I am SHOCKED! Sure everybody looks - you can't help it. But to ogle the woman so blatantly and then call her back and basically tell her you just wanted to check out her butt again is beyond the pale! If you want to blame it on his age - I'd say he's senile and should be locked up for his own safety - because if he keeps on pulling stunts like that, one of these days some woman is going to go postal on his sorry a** - and I won't blame her!

I saw the coverage this morning and like you, was shocked. I heard somewhere he said, "The day I don't look at a pretty girl is the day I die". Well sure, but there is a time and place for everything! I think someone should tell him, "The day you ogle any girl again during a televised meeting and then make a completely inappropriate remark to her, is the day you are fired!"

He must be emulating another politician with the first name of William. .

What do you think E?

Technically it is only harassment if it is unwanted. The courts have shown that if the "victim" puts the "offender" on notice that those types of remarks or behavior are unacceptable then any future remarks become harassment. Essentially the first time you get a free pass. I have been to many Sexual Harassment seminars and they always tell you to educate your employees and try to prevent ANY inappropriate remarks (which is almost impossible). But when something wrong or potentially wrong is observed (by anyone) the person must be put on notice and informed of the consequences of any future remarks.

Schaefer needs to be put on notice and for PR sake he needs to apologize to the young woman.

Based on what some people have said abut the guy in follow-up to this incident, I would dare say he must have been "put on notice" long before now. He has a reputation for being a creep, apparently.

By the way, even if the girl wanted it, the rest of us did not. Conduct that is "wanted" by one person but offends the sensitivities of others is also considered to be harrassment. When it's as egregious as in this case, he doesn't need to be warned that it's inappropriate before he faces consequences - he should know better, period!

I saw nothing wrong with it. The girl even laughed along with i might add the gov.
People now days are tooooooo up tight about NOTHING.

Sexual Harassment laws protect people in the workplace. If you were offended by what he said on TV complain to the FCC.

I just couldn't believe my eyes. I've only met a few guys ever who were so unashamedly disgusting. Guess I just don't hang out with trashy people enough. Apparently there are plenty of them out there.

Come to think of it, wasn't that line he used an old Jerry Lewis, or Dean Martin line? It is at least as old as Ole Donald.

Inappropriate conduct, Yes

Harrassment, No

I did not see the news report, but I always think about these things as if it were my 20 year old daughter up there. How would I feel if that were my daughter? Probably really disgusted that some dirty old man was oogling over her. Yeah, I would be mad. Older men should behave like gentlemen and set a good example. And yes, I would expect him to apologize publically. I can imagine that the young woman could have been embarrassed but had felt pressured to laugh along with everyone. I mean, she is 20 years old!! Just hardly out of her teens. How embarrassing for her. Schaffer was just acting like a jerk, IMO. Just plain bad manners, if you ask me.

It's all over the news again tonight. The "man" is practically foaming at the mouth saying that the news media is trying to make more of it than it was. But neither they nor I need say anything but "look and listen for yourself". I don't see how anyone can see and hear what the guy said and did and not be absolutely appalled! The news media need say absolutely nothing - just roll the tape - and the facts speak for themselves.

I don't care what you want to call it: this voting, taxpaying Maryland landowner hopes the State's Attorney's office carefully reviews the tapes and considers filing charges over this creep's criminal misconduct. This guy does not belong in public office. His kind of conduct doesn't even belong in public, period!

There's little doubt that the ex-governor is soon to be an ex-comptroller... and IMHO, that day can't come soon enough. He's an embarrassment to the State of Maryland and gentlemen everywhere.

P.S. - I won't deny that High School boys and low or no-class dirtbags sometimes ogle girls on the sly and/or make rude comments about pretty young women to one another at times. But never openly and never to the poor woman's face like that. This really does go beyond even that low-class behavior that's sometimes practiced by drunk immature trash. When someone is so ignorant as to do such a thing publicly, they're met with nervous laughter and treated a bit like the Village Idiot... as we do with our very own Greedy - who at least has the decency to hide behond an anonymous user name.

I put the wrong smilie in my post above. Did not look close enough. That the red one was for being mad. Should have been

I agree BMIC. It is one thing to look at a young woman and another thing to publically humiliate a young woman.

Folks seem to think that if it doesn't meet the LEGAL criteria for sexual harassment than it isn't.

The guy may not have broken the law but his behavior as described is in the same vein as a form of sexual harassment termed street harassment aka catcalling. You know yelling out the window of your car at a pretty woman as she walks down the street. Believe it or not if the pretty woman is embarrassed by your action that's harassment.

Yeah, just can't believe that a woman could be offended by an unsolicited "compliment".

I read Schaefer sent a handwritten apology to the young lady after finding out she was embarrassed by his behavior.

So take heed boys and girls, even IF it's not illegal it may still be sexual harassment.

McGee, people often laugh when they are embarrassed or don't know what to do in a situation so don't think those girls you honk at actually like it.

millennium,
I didn`t say anything about me honking or whistling at anyone.
They dress for the attention, they will get attention.
The public today is way to tight on harrassment.
Hell i`m handycap. I don`t care what a person says to me.

The Govenor should tell him to truly apologize or be fired, and if he does apoligize this should be his last warning. Completely inappropriate.

yeah hold your breath!

ratta tat tat dat ass...

It's gettin' crowded living in your empty skull rent free...

I completely agree that the actions taken by the Don was inappropriate and sexual harassment. However, I wonder if the PRESS would have had anything to say if a 70 year old lady had asked a 22 year old gentleman to come back so she could look at his backside. Even if the situation would have been exactly the same I feel nothing would have been said at all or it would have been broadcasted as a joke, and everyone would have laughed. I have capitalized PRESS because that is who made a big deal out of this not the girl. Please don't misunderstand it is a big deal.

GreedyXJ

GREAT PICTURE

Well Hago, I have put some thought into your post and I agree that yes, sadly, if the situation were reversed, the press would most likely present it as a joke and it would get very limited exposure. A double standard that should not exist within the context of sexual harassment. It is not right, but that is just how our society is in what flies regarding men and women. I think the incident with Donald Schaefer was appalling in that we could all see how blatant his actions actually were and given the inappropriateness of the setting, made my jaw drop. How the young lady reacted (nervously laughing if off) only reaffirmed my opinion that it was clearly sexual harassment.

It does not surprise me that we didn't hear much from the girl. She is an intern and I'm sure would like remain an intern, hoping the whole thing would disappear ASAP. Whether it was actual harassment or not may fall on how the girl interpreted the situation, not all of us. However, due to the officials involved, we may never know. Regardless, Schaefer should be reprimanded for his actions and lack of judgment.

At the risk of being called sexist, I don't see anything wrong with affording the members of the female sex the honor that is their due as members fo the fairer sex. In fact, if there's one deplorable side effect that all of the emphasis on equal rights has had, it has been the degrading of the status of women.

I really don't care if it's a bit old-fashioned, but I think women should be treated with respect and sensitivity - as ladies, if you will, and that gentlemen should still take at least some care to behave properly towards them.

That is, unless they start spouting liberal propaganda... then the gloves come off.

Hi Snoopy

The Govenor cannot fire him as he is an elected official not an appointed one.

Tony

Exactly, and If I'm not mistaken he's coming up for re-election this Fall. IMO, all anyone needs to do is watch that clip once and it'll all be over. There's zero chance that at least one of the major networks won't dust it off and re-broadcast it come election time. As I said, he's soon to be the ex-Comptroller.

What kills me is all of the people saying it's totally in character for the guy. If so, I can't figure out how on earth he managed to ever get elected for anything - and he used to be the Governor, for heaven's sake! ... Though wasn't his administration plagued by all sorts of scandals?

Well IMO it is sad that MD government seems to have wimps in it much like the Hag Council who are unwilling to stand-up and publicly denounce a gross ethics or conduct violation. Too bad the Governor and others did not see fit to make a public statement about it, like our Council is too wimpy to do with McBean.

I voted for Schaefer in 86 mainly because he insisted on referring to the male reporters who followed him around the state as "girls" or "ladies." It drove them nuts, some of them still hate him because of it. That plus Mooney was a moron. I voted against him in 1990 because I didn't like his tax and spend policies, especially when most of the spending was on Baltimore and OC. If I had it to do over I would have voted for him again in 1990. I've lived in MD since 1974 and I can't name a governor that was any better, and there certainly hasn't been one that worked half as hard as he still does at the age of 84.

I also like him because he couldn't care less what people say about him. That's a rare quality for a politician. He didn't care what they said when his long-time girlfriend, Hilda Mae, lived in the Governor's Mansion. He didn't care what they said when he called the Eastern Shore a "sh!thouse." He didn't care what they said when he repeatedly called Paris Glendening "Ayatollah." He didn't care what they said when he was one of the only Democratic governors to support George H. W. Bush in 1992. And I'm sure he doesn't care what they're saying now.

Who knows, maybe he did have a senile moment, he's never struck me as being stupid, but Ehrlich wouldn't fire him if he could, he likes him. One of the first things he did in office is turn back on the Hilda Mae fountain that Glendening had turned off. Someone earlier said he had apologized to the young lady in writing and my guess is that's all he's going to do. She has the right to pursue it legally if she chooses to. Btw, what ever happened to the chant about there being too many frivolous lawsuits? If you're offended for her then you have a big problem, because I'm sure you were equally offended by the women who sued Arnold Schwarzenegger for sexual harrassment, or the associate producer who sued Bill O'Reilly for the same thing. And of course these pages are full of your outrage over Monica Lewinsky being drug through the mud for years and literally having her "dirty laundry" waved like a battle flag before the entire world.

What is it about sex that outrages you Republicans so much? Do you not get enough? I hope I'm still looking at young women like that when I'm 84.

Morals Id, Morals.

I'll give you time to look the word up.

My friends across the aisle and there supporters (ACLU) are bringing about the moral decay of this great land.

Think about it before you give me a normal Democratic response please.

Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?
-Jules Feiffer

Heaven forbid that I should give a Democratic response to one of the oldest Republican talking points on the books. Actually, I won't give any response, because frankly I don't give a damn about the ACLU or your "friends across the aisle." I agree with Ross Perot, there’s not a nickel’s worth of difference between the two of you. They may let you frame every issue in your own terms but I refuse to. Neither this "great land", nor God, nor morality, are the exclusive domain of the Republican Party, no matter how loud, or how often they self-righteously lay claim to them. If your outrage were based on morals it wouldn’t be so selective. Other than the two cases I mentioned, I could come up with a long list of Republican sex scandals that are much more damning than what Schaefer did and I've never read a single word of outrage about any of them here.

Not only is your form of morality selective, it’s also very limited. Isn't it immoral to transfer our gigantic and growing debt to our children and their children so that this generation can enjoy an artificially low tax burden? Isn't it immoral to attack someone based on their choice of lifestyle? Isn't it immoral to invade a country and reduce it to chaos just so terrorists can attack us there instead of here? Isn’t it immoral to say that the end justifies the means? Isn't it immoral to pry into the private lives of people in the name of national security? Isn’t it immoral to kidnap and torture people without charging them with a crime? Isn't it immoral to privatize the present safety net designed to safeguard and sustain the middle and lower classes past their working years? Isn't it immoral to convert a workable progressive tax system based on income to a regressive system based on consumption that falls most heavily on the poor? Isn’t it immoral to allow pharmaceutical companies to sell drugs to US citizens for far more than they sell the same drugs to other countries?

The answer to those questions to many on the other side of that aisle is obviously no. I guess that explains why their morals aren’t decaying as rapidly, they didn’t have as many to start with. Mark Twain said "It is not best to use our morals on weekdays, it gets them out of repair for Sunday." Maybe that’s their strategy.

"Isn't it immoral to convert a workable progressive tax system based on income to a regressive system based on consumption that falls most heavily on the poor?"

Idiot, How would a consumption tax fall more on the poor? A poor person would spend less money than a rich person there by paying less tax.

It's one of the oldest Republican talking points on the books because immorality has become the Democratic party's defining characteristic. What was once the party of social concern and advocacy has become nothing more than a three-ring circus: a hodgepodge of immoral special interest groups. The sad thing about it is, few Democrats see anything wrong with that.

Schaeffer sounds like he's about as low-class as they get.

The reason why I suspect nobody is doing too much about this latest fiasco is that everybody is scared of him. Did you see him talking to the local reporters in the days after the story broke? I could swear he was ready to haul off and punch one of the reporters! He really came off as a dangerously violent, evil old man. I can sympathize with those who as sick and tired of the polished oh-so-perfect politicians of the day. But not only does this guy not put on any airs, you can see that he is NOT the kind of person who should be holding ANY kind of public office!

William Donald Schaefer told onlookers at the kickoff of a statewide hunger drive yesterday. "I'm at a low ebb, and I don't know why."

Poor old man is sick and all anybody can do is pick on him.




It might be time for him to retire.