COLUMBUS — The growing controversy over sexual misconduct in entertainment and politics took a strange turn Friday when an Ohio state Supreme Court justice running for governor tried to launch a pre-emptive strike by laying out his sexual history, only to find himself on the defensive anyway.
Democrat William O’Neill has a message for people who’ve criticized him for volunteering candid details about his sexual past on Facebook: “Lighten up folks.”
O’Neill posted Friday he’s been “sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females” including “a gorgeous blonde” in a hay loft. He says the post grew out of frustration over Democrats’ calls to remove Al Franken from the U.S. Senate over sexual misconduct allegations.
Critics say O’Neill is trivializing the issue.
O’Neill says when a U.S. senator “commits a non criminal act of indiscretion” and his apology is accepted by the victim “IT IS WRONG for the dogs of war to leap onto his back and demand his resignation.”
He says people calling for him to quit his job are “sanctimonious judges.”