What Are The Odds?

When you see a headline: NYC Councilman Charged with Rape - the odds, about 20 - 1, say it's a Democrat, given that there are only 3 Republicans out of 51 council slots. Granted, a NYC Republican is usually about as conservative as a tie-died T-shirt, but damn, they sure are lucky, aren't they? Maybe he'll be spared due to the Endangered Species Act, it is NYC, after all.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A city councilman was arraigned Friday on charges that he raped and assaulted a woman in his office just hours after they met in a bar.

Councilman Dennis Gallagher, a married father of two, turned himself in after a grand jury came back with the 10-count indictment on rape and assault charges. In testimony before the grand jury this week, he acknowledged an encounter with the 52-year-old woman but said it was consensual.

"He concedes that it was morally bad conduct on his part, but he absolutely and vehemently denies any criminal wrongdoing," said his lawyer, Stephen R. Mahler.

The woman alleged that after the July 8 meeting in the bar, he offered to drive her home but instead took her to his district office and attacked her.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the allegations "troubling - particularly because they involve the actions of a public official who has a special responsibility to uphold and obey the law."

Gallagher, elected to the council in 2001, is one of three Republicans in the 51-member body.

Comments

[wardmd]

I'm surprised!

Not that a Republican is indicted of Rape (or even if he did it).

What's a surprise, is that NORMALLY when a headline DOESN'T refer to the suspect as a Republican, that USUALLY means that he's a Democrat (regardless of the percentage distribution between the parties in the area in which the story is reported).

Usually, if it's a Republican, that fact is mentioned either in the headline itself, or in the first paragraph; when it's a Democrat, either that fact is omitted (unintentionally, I'm sure), or it appears at, or near, the end of the piece.

[Phoenix]

Correct, wardmd.

I'm wondering how the councilman got the woman to agree to get out of the car and to walk into his office. Maybe he used a gun. Could be she actually thought his office was her house. That happens a lot in NYC. Or maybe she really was so stupid as to agree to see what his office looked like out of genuine political curiousity.

Sometimes I actually feel sorry for men in positions of power who give in to lust. There is always a woman willing to spread 'em for a fast buck. To hell with ruining a guy's family and reputation. There's nothing good about a cheating man, but there is something wicked and sick about a lying whore.