Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll has finally responded to accusations that she fired a staffer because the staffer discovered her in the midst of a gay tryst with an aide: "Usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that."
Oh dear.
WTSP found Carroll over the weekend at the opening of a Mitt Romney campaign office in Orange Park. Here's the rest of her meandering statement:
The problem is that when you have these accusations that come out, it's not just one person you're attacking. It's an entire family. My husband doesn't want to hear that. He knows the type of woman I am. I mean, my kids know the type of woman I am. For twenty-nine years -- I'm the one that's married for twenty-nine years. The accuser is the one that's been single for a long time. So usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that.She also told a radio reporter, "My husband and I have a very healthy and exciting relationship for 29 years and I don't need to seek satisfaction anywhere else," which, even if it's true, is way too much information.
And now, the context: Cole is facing up to five years in prison for allegedly sharing recorded governmental conversations with journalists. She also insists Carroll's alleged mistress, Bibi Ramos, intentionally set a fire in her trash can. More recently, Cole sent out a news release saying Carroll couldn't be trusted for a number of reasons, one of them being "misuse of office for sexual escapade." She also called for Carroll's impeachment and used the word finagled.
The most recent court documents, the ones that included the claim that Cole discovered Carroll and Ramos in a "compromising position," also included other scandalous deedlie-doos. From the AP:
Cole also said Ramos was living at Carroll's home and at one point she was ordered by Ramos to find adjoining hotel rooms for Carroll and Ramos when they traveled. Cole said that she was "scolded" by an agent with Carroll's security team when she placed Ramos next door to Carroll when the lieutenant governor and her husband traveled last summer to Puerto Rico. The agent told her to not do it again, Cole says, although he did not explain why.Carroll hasn't commented on these allegations, other than to say Cole is trying to get her criminal charges dropped. Well, that and all that business about how she somehow doesn't look like a lesbian and is black, presumably because there are no gay black people.
Also, a curious nondenial from that AP story:
"They are trying to pull at straws," Carroll said. "All this stuff you mentioned doesn't excuse what happened."
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