What Exactly Was This Representative Reading During Legislative Debates?

How many times are legislators on either side of the aisle going to be slammed for doing stupid things during legislative sessions before they learn their lesson?

Given that legislative sessions are open to the public and there are always reporters there, anything said or done is fair game and can make news in an instant.

Such is the case with Republican Representative Ross Paustian out of Iowa.

From The Blaze:

A photo of an Iowa state lawmaker staring at a copy of a book titled “Sex After Sixty” as his peers debated the collective bargaining rights of public school teachers on Tuesday has spread across social media.

Republican state Rep. Ross Paustian says that as a result, he’s been fielding some “vicious emails” from constituents who are less than content that he was peering at the book while lawmakers hashed through official business.

“I’m getting a lot of pretty vicious emails from people, so I have to explain. The main thing is I was totally engaged in what was going on on the floor,” Paustian, 59, told KCRG-TV. “I knew what was going on. I knew how we were going to vote on amendments. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on.”

I get how boring testimony and debates in the legislature can be (especially listening to Democrats), I’ve listened to both over and over again in my own state but at least pretend to be listening if you’re an elected representative.

And if you’re look at something that could paint the dumb picture that this one did, keep the cover down.

Pictures are worth a thousand words and this one doesn’t look good at all.

And given that the left wing media will jump on something like this and make it far worse than it really is Republicans reallyneed to think before the speak or act.