The ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
Now and again, elected officials say or do something so inexplicably weird, so bizarre it catches even the most cynical among us by surprise. Take, for instance, Sen. Cathy Giessel’s out-of-the-blue assertion our military men overseas are raping women.
A signed affidavit from the host and producer of the ABC Daily Show on Coastal Alaska Television in Juneau, Dorene M. Lorenz, was obtained by the Mike Porcaro Show.
Lorenz’s sworn statement says during a live 2016 interview with Giessel, Giessel said “it was her belief that all UN Peacekeeping forces – including Alaskan troops did was rape third-world women.
“Her statement was to the effect of ‘our military is over there and they are not keeping the peace, al(l) UN peacekeeping forces do is rape women in third-world countries.’ ”
Lorenz says she thought perhaps she had misheard Giessel and asked if she had, but Giessel repeated her statement with “strong conviction.”
All of this, Lorenz says, came out of nowhere as the two had not been talking about anything having to do with UN peacekeeping forces.
We are unsure what Giessel hoped to gain by attacking our military as rapists of third-world women, and, in doing so, slandering good people who daily put their lives on the line for us, but apparently Ms. Giessel knows something the rest of us are unaware of. This would be a very good time for her to explain her serious allegations – before voters decide whether they will return her to the Senate.
Time to put up or shut up, senator.
Giessel faces Roger Holland, a Coast Guard reservist and veteran, in the Republican Primary election.
O don’t know what to believe, Giessel’s avowal that America’s finest rape a lot or the President’s avowals that he doesn’t
What planet am I living on? And when you tell me, be kind.
Giessel needs to be handed her hat and shown the door. I have voted for her each time in the past, but not this time. Her power crazed leadership in the Senate has cost Alaskans. In several ways.She might have escaped that but her outrageous claim that all that our service men deployed overseas for peace keeping mission did was rape women is grounds for voting her out of office. She should be ashamed.
Cathy has always been in contempt of the military. No one in our family served. We were all raised as pro-union Democrats. She’s actually less than a RINO. More like a WINO.
Ha!
As veterans, my wife and I find this despicable. And we were her 3rd highest contributors in the past–+$3,500. I’ve made bad investments in the past but this is my most regrettable and regretted.
I think that to be fair this matter needs to be investigated. Hopefully there is a recorded version of the meeting. After all it was an interview by a journalist of a State Senator. If true, Giessel Should be thrown out of office.
As much as I have no use for Giessel I must say That this looks a bit unbelievable. Would she say this twice in an interview with a news person. I do not like her but she is not stupid. And the timing is suspect. Why now, right before her primary? And why did the accuser need to do it by affidavit? When is the last time you heard of a news person doing that?
I wish it were true as that would be the end of Giessel in politics. But fair is fair. Please dig a bit deeper.
Without recent actions by Giessel, I would certainly give her the benefit of the doubt. However, her turncoat secret identity has been revealed by those actions. In Giessel’s quest for power, she has betrayed not only her political party, but the very citizen voters who put her there. That is not a way to gain trust in anything she says or does. I do believe she mouthed the words quoted by Ms. Lorenz. I know Dorene, I know her parents and grandparents well. Chris, her grandpa and an outstanding operator, instructed me on crane operating. I worked with him. True Alaskans, all. I do not think, for one moment, that her statements regarding the Giessel interview, are fabricated. To say otherwise without proof will invite my ire.
An affidavit?
By a tv reporter?
I’m no Giessel fan but this sounds a bit too odd. Memories change. Would anyone be surprised that a Juneau reporter had an anti republican bias and built the incident up in her mind?
Let’s see the tape, or chalk it up as a hit job.
The only people raping 3rd world women are blue-helmeted UN troops, generally in Africa, none of which to the best of my knowledge are Americans, though Slick Willie most certainly tried to make that so 25 years ago. So did O’Bama 5 years ago.
I think this is what she is referring to. If US military is augmenting the UN and the Blue Helmets are doing Bad Things, how are US troops responsible? ROE won’t allow any action by Americans other than reporting up the chain of command to a CINC who really doesn’t care. Then what?
Interesting that this didn’t come up during the Vince Beltrami run 4 years ago. Why not?
If Holland’s supporters are behind this last-minute smear, he needs to immediately shut this down. Otherwise, he is not fit for office. Cheers –
Having spent 20 yrs in the US Military, with a couple tours to 3rd world countries. I for one am offended at the insinuations made by Senator (let me repeat that, Senator!) Geissel . This is particularly offensive when you consider she is the leader of the Alaska Senate, a position with a high level of control over the budget for Alaska’s National Gard. She should not be in that position. Moreover, her peers should remover her immediately. As to being in the legislature, well that’s for her constituents to act upon.
Having also spent 17 years working in the legislature as staff. I saw more inappropriate actions by legislators (several making the news) than what she accuses us of. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones Madam President.
I don’t wish this woman any ill, but it cannot be overstated how much harm she has done to this state, seemingly just out of an arrogance, to curry power and favor from special interests, or just an elitist type loathing of her fellow Alaskans. It’s really something. It’s hard to see anything, really “good”, ethical, or of merit, in anything she has been tasked with since Dunleavy was elected. She either hates him, hates us all, or both. From her handling of Shaw, and the PFD, to the special session, etc etc it’s just been terrible and with a total disdain for the electorate and the governor they elected.
This is a blatant misconception, the UN actually keeps an active log of all accusations in regards to sexual assault allegations in a published, publicly accessible web page, which is linked below. While there are Issues around the world stemming from UN peacekeepers, Most UN peacekeepers are made up of mostly non US active duty soldiers. After reading this I searched through the log and did not find a single American soldier that has been accused of raping or fathering a victim from the US peacekeeping mission. Unfortunately many of the women that have filed complaints that are posted here are from the southern hemisphere.
hrw.org/news/2020/01/11/un-peacekeeping-has-sexual-abuse-problem
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