Katie Hill resigning from office

[Gustaf]

It's kind of reassuring that even in a thread about a Democrat doing something sh***y and some Democrats wrongfully defending it there is still a Republican poster around to remind us that they are the cartoon villains no matter what.

[Yellowhammer]

Not surprised she’s a creepy degenerate. Won’t matter for her re-elect chances though because her district would vote now for a corpse if the democrats ran one, all because Orange Man Says Mean Things.

That's interesting considering your state almost sent a racist pedophile to the senate just because he had an R next to his name.

And we should have! Pedophiles are way, way better than democrats -- hear me out. Almost all democrats (~90%) want to kill children (abortion), but some pedophiles do not. So it's rather hypocritical for dems to criticize pedophiles, as plenty of those folks are less dangerous to children than democrats politicians. They have no moral high ground when it comes to this.

And Moore, to my knowledge, is not a racist.  

Then why do Tennessee Republicans love a "baby killer" like Scott DesJarlais?

They shouldn't, and if I lived in his district I would never vote for him.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

If the President of the United States refuses to step down for breaking the law, then why should a member of Congress step down for doing nothing illegal?

Isn't it just rotten luck for the GOP that this didn't come out before the 2017 election? Lol. Anyway, this isn't right and Northam should resign.

That is something that could call into question one's ability to govern fairly for all citizens.

And affairs also do as they could be used as blackmail evidence. This is why the FBI used to fire anyone who was found to be having one. Same principle with David Petraeus too.

The fact that Trump has eroded standards is not an argument for giving up on them entirely, it's also stupid whataboutery.

So all politicians should be automatically disqualified for having an affair?

Yes?

What really should matter is whether a politician does her/his job well, and disqualifying such person because of having an affair is just stupid, as long as said affair doesn't interfere with her or his performance. When you start to enforce an inflexible "personal morality" limitus test, it's going to do more damage than good.

In Hill's case, while sleeping with your staffer is pretty problematic (and if there's an indication of professionally inappropriate conduct, then she should resign), I'm not even sure we could call it an "affair", given she apparently is in open marriage.

My read of the story was that she first put a woman on her staff that she and her husband were already sleeping with.  Separately, she later started sleeping with another man on her staff without her husband’s knowledge.  The second would be the “affair”.  

But I don’t really think her relationship with husband has anything to do with what makes this problematic.  It’s her professional relationship with the other two people.

[BP🌹]

I honestly feel the same way about Republicans as Yellowhammer feels about Democrats. Unfortunately, most on the left wouldn't agree with me, because they're spineless.

[henster]

She actually did a documentary with VICE who filmed her run for Congress. I see the guy she's currently dating in there along with her husband featured prominently. The female staffer is probably in there as well but don't recognize her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2MeTpDByEw&t=670s

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

These giant quotes & quote chains are making me dizzy.

As for the actual story, eh. This is the only place I've seen the story pop up (Not even my California newsletter cares enough to talk about it). Seems to only be a handful of hard-right sites bringing it up.

Not to mention, everyone involved seems to be consensual about it. So what's the story other than "Married couple sleeps with other people with proper consent"? Family values? Is it adultery if both spouses are on the same page about it? The only part of the story I see remotely damning is that she was sleeping with staffers. I don't want to see its all cause shes female, but I do have that inkling.

I'll just say that, as a millennial, this is the first time I've ever heard the term "throuple" before. I guess "polyamorous" isn't spicy enough of a word?

[Mister Mets]

Eh. I don't think it's a big deal unless bigger and less partisan outlets pick this up. The only entities that are really pushing this story are right wingers like RedState and Comfortably Smug, and they aren't exactly the most trustworthy sources. Even photographs can be be easily edited.

So needless to say I'm skeptical.

Is it appropriate to ignore a story that is discussed online and in Washington circles? Doesn't this lead to legitimate claims of media bias?

Is there any hint that the material is manufactured? That would in itself be a major news story (prominent conservative news outlet posts faked attack on swing-district politician.)

[UncleSam]

Literally could not care less

[Landslide Lyndon]

Is there any hint that the material is manufactured? That would in itself be a major news story (prominent conservative news outlet posts faked attack on swing-district politician.)

Um, posting fake news stories is the bread and butter of conservative media. Have you ever watched a Fox News segment or read a Breitbart article?

[RI]

Looks like she took representing a swing district a little too literally.

[Coldstream]

I always see stories like this as a reason not to get in to a relationship with the person (Hill).

But in terms of whether she should resign - you have to look at it if she was in another profession; would you expect her to resign as a banker or a firefighter over having an affair? I wouldn’t. 

Having said that the fact she’s had relationships with at least two subordinates is worthy of at least a cursory investigation to make sure nothing untoward happened.

For me the saddest thing is that things like this when seized upon are often used to justify/promote biphobia by implying bisexuality is synonymous with infidelity and polyamory.

[wbrocks67]

Literally no one cares about this

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Having said that the fact she’s had relationships with at least two subordinates is worthy of at least a cursory investigation to make sure nothing untoward happened.

For me the saddest thing is that things like this when seized upon are often used to justify/promote biphobia by implying bisexuality is synonymous with infidelity and polyamory.

In completely separate instances, she (a) started sleeping with someone who was already her subordinate; and (b) hired someone that she was already sleeping with.

For me the saddest thing is to see people who might otherwise be positive public representations of polyamory or nonmonogamy behave so abominably in their professional life.

[Person Man]

I’m ok with her and her husband having a girlfriend. Her sleeping around with someone without her husband or girlfriend’s permission is another. She is also sh**tting where she eats. Maybe she can still do the job if she reconciles with everyone or she should reign.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Yikes, I don’t think she’s a great person, but not enough for me to want her to resign or that I would not vote for her, but some sort of sanction is in order.

[Meatball Ron]

Has a single reliable / credible journalistic source picked up this story yet? I'm not seeing any. And if not - why are we talking about this?

[Mister Mets]

Has a single reliable / credible journalistic source picked up this story yet? I'm not seeing any. And if not - why are we talking about this?

Why should it matter whether reliable/ credible journalistic sources are talking about this?

If the evidence was faked by Red State, that's a big story too.

If the evidence is accurate and gatekeepers aren't reporting it, why should their biases influence the rest of us?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Has a single reliable / credible journalistic source picked up this story yet? I'm not seeing any. And if not - why are we talking about this?

Why should it matter whether reliable/ credible journalistic sources are talking about this?

Because it means they checked the story and found it lacks credibility?
After last year's debacle with Cisneros everyone should be more careful.

[Yellowhammer]

Has a single reliable / credible journalistic source picked up this story yet? I'm not seeing any. And if not - why are we talking about this?

Do you really still expect an extension of the democratic machine to expose one of its own proxies when it doesn't really need to?
We're in an era of scorched-earth politics, the media isn't about to sabotage the democrats in a potentially vulnerable district if they don't have to. If Katie Hill was a republican, she would've already had to resign.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Is it adultery if both spouses are on the same page about it?

Yes, but that's not the main issue here (assuming this story is true, which I hope it isn't).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well f***k.

Of all millennial congress members, it had to be one I knocked doors for, that I literally have a f***king campaign sticker for on the back of my phone.

This isn't 100% proven, of course, but BRTD is right, it looks bad.

[wbrocks67]

Red State is the only one that has jumped on this (and conservative outlets) and still... no one cares. People need to stop.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Well, this is looking like a real nothingburger. No major outlet has picked it up and Hill is still a congresswoman and the vice chair of the freakin’ Oversight committee. 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Per Politico, there is no evidence that Hill had an affair except her husband’s unsupported claim that this was the case and she has alleged that her husband was abusive towards her.  DC police investigating whether photos were illegally obtained and/or were revenge porn.  At this point, while the whole threeouple thing is really weird (to say the least) and this certainly showed some poor judgment on Hill’s part, I don’t think there’s any reason for her to resign or even that she shouldn’t be re-elected at this point.  

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/katie-hill-denies-improper-relationship-054313

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Per Politico, there is no evidence that Hill had an affair except her husband’s unsupported claim that this was the case and she has alleged that her husband was abusive towards her.  DC police investigating whether photos were illegally obtained and/or were revenge porn.  At this point, while the whole threeouple thing is really weird (to say the least) and this certainly showed some poor judgment on Hill’s part, I don’t think there’s any reason for her to resign or even that she shouldn’t be re-elected at this point.  

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/katie-hill-denies-improper-relationship-054313

Thank goodness.