Darryl’s already hit the story, but I wanted to come back to it after reading this snippet in the Seattle P-I:
A former longtime employee of the King County Prosecutor’s Office was caught in an Internet sting this week, when police say he arranged to meet someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.
[…] The Seattle P-I is not publishing the man’s name or details about his work on local political campaigns because he has not been formally charged.
We shall call him “Pervert X.” Although his real name is Larry Corrigan, a GOP operative and former Director of Operations and Budget for King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng. Why the P-I thought it should protect his identity and political affiliations I don’t know, especially after KIRO-TV had already shouted his name all over the airwaves.
The Seattle Times was less discrete. It not only described him as the deputy treasurer for Dave Reichert’s 1997 and 2001 runs for King County sheriff, and as a “supporter without an official role in Reichert’s congressional campaigns,” they also went on to get comments from Reichert and a Maleng spokesman.
So, should Corrigan’s identity have been revealed? It strikes me that either the Times or the P-I must have erred in judgement, and reluctantly, I’m leaning towards the P-I. After all, Corrigan’s political pedigree is the only thing that makes this story rise above the usual din of dirty old men propositioning teenagers, so if it was too soon to reveal his identity, it was certainly too soon to publish the story. But then, who am I to question the journalistic decision making of our local media? I’m just some unschooled blogger.
Now I suppose it’s unfair to use yet another scandal involving yet another GOP mucky-mucky to make some assertion about Republicans in general. So I won’t. Instead I’ll just leave the implication dangling out there without comment.
But it is fair to note that Corrigan wasn’t just some low-level party loyalist. He was incredibly well connected. “Very wired,” I’m told. “Unbelievably so.” And apparently, got along great with folks on both sides of the aisle. I mean, for a Republican.
He was also in the process of using his political connections for personal gain. KIRO reported that Corrigan had left the Prosecutor’s Office two years ago to pursue private business interests… and that business is apparently the local distributorship for Aha Toro Tequila. (Go to the Contact page and you’ll find some other state GOP loyalists. And click on the address for “Kent Johnson” and you’ll find your email addressed to “larry_corrigan”.)
Which explains why Corrigan was also leading the effort to run a statewide initiative in 2007 that would liberalize WA’s liquor laws so as to allow big box and other stores to sell liquor. You know… like Aha Toro tequila.
Of course, we’ve come to expect the character of our initiatives to reflect the character of their sponsors. Here’s hoping this particular initiative is dead.
Most likely this is just a case where the P-I has an editorial policy that if someone has been arrested but not yet formally charged, they don’t print the name, even if everyone already knows who it is. They probably felt like they had to say something, because everyone else was already covering the story, but needed to stick to their editorial guidelines.
This guy may be a typical Republican douche bag, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the idea of getting rid of the prohibition era backwards idea of allowing a state run monopoly control liquor.
GOP….
Group of Pigs?
Group of Perverts?
Grand ole’ Pedophiles?
Which one is it? I think they all fit. This just never seems to stop with these hypocritical assholes.
I was reading throught the blogs and the list of GOP pigs just seem to go on and on. You’ll all have a laugh on what I’ve pasted below. I found this by Soundboy_Jeff @ Americablog.com:
More Republican “Family Values” :
* Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
* Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
* Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
* Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
* Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
* Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
* Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
* Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
* Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
* Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
* Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
* Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
* Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.
* Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
* Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
* Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
* Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
Adam @2,
To which I ask, would the quality of life in WA state be improved by being able to purchase a fifth of rotgut at the local 7/11, and how do you propose replacing the revenues generated by the State Store system, or which programs do you wish to cut?
Nobody would suggest creating the State Store system today. But that does not necessarily mean there is an advantage to dismantling it now that we already have it.
And it could be worse. It could be Pennsylvania.
Hmph. The last person who spearheaded a serious effort to get the state out of the liquor business was a guy who sells electronic parts.
Goldy:
I was born and raised in Washington and thought the liquor store setup was just the way it worked. Then I moved to California (don’t hold it against me). It makes Washington’s system look just like Pennsylvania’s. Remember not long ago when it made major news because they were actually going to open a liquor store on a Sunday? The end of the world was upon us. This isn’t about a bottle of cheap booze at a 7-11, it’s about being able to go into a Costco and buy that bottle of Schnapps for the holidays at a price that isn’t double what people pay in other states.
People, even Republicans, don’t typically mind sin taxes, so by simple supply and demand you can probably have the same amount of tax revenue with a less irritating system.
Goldy @ 4:
I don’t know the in’s and out’s of the state run liquor stores, but it would seem to me that the state could impose the same level of taxation on booze and let retailers collect and remit the tax to the state.
The state can unload it’s warehouse and distribution system lowering the states overhead on alcohol thereby pocketing more money beyond the tax collected.
I’m sure I’m missing something here, but is that a workable scenario for the state without losing it’s revenue stream from liquor sales?
What? Hmmm? Did someone say another republican is tangled in a sex scandal with children?
Yaaawwwnnn! Same story, different day.
Goldy:
Have a read:
http://www.effwa.org/inbriefs/v12_n2.php
Gee.
What a surprise–a Republican insider being a G.D. pervert.
Looks like Aha Toro has one less worm in their operation.
Adam @6,
You can’t even buy beer in a supermarket in PA. Liquor and wine is sold exclusively at the State Store, and beer is available by the case at “beverage distributors” or for takeout by the six pack at places that sell hot food sit down.
GBS @7,
So we keep state revenues from liquor steady by increasing consumption? I fail to see the social benefit in that.
TheHim @11,
It’s actually mescal that has the worm. Otherwise I would have made some bad joke about Corrigan asking his victim to swallow his worm.
Being retired Army, all my booze is bought at Class VI, and so I have no dog in this hunt. I would very much like to compare DUI/Alcohol related deaths per 1000 for the states of CA and WA to see if state stores make any difference.
I read about this arrest this morning in the PI, but I had no idea this dude was a ‘playa’ in WAGOP politics. Yeah, it damn well is relevant as long as the RNC keeps using the values card to try and win votes. Hypocrites.
Goldy, I have to say that I’m not in agreement with you here on the liquor issue. I was visiting friends down in California when i walked into a Safeway and saw bottles of Grey Goose and Jaeger next to the Merlot’s and Cabarnet’s, and I was in shock – not just because I thought every state sold it through a monopoly system like Washington, but because the prices were so freaking cheap.
That and the fact that here it was, 9 at night, and I knew that if I wanted to buy a bottle for my weekend, I wouldn’t have to wait til Saturday morning because “all the liquor stores were closed”.
After that visit to California, I’m all in favor of abolishing the monopoly that the state has on hard alcohol distribution. Getting competition in the liquor game will only bring down prices, just like it does to just about every other retail commodity (we can leave out Enron styled electricity contracts out of the argument for now).
Again, keep the taxes where they need to be to keep the sin money flowing in, but I’d still vote a resounding yes to this initiative – call me a horses ass if you feel like it.
One thing to remember, gang, is that you can buy liquor for cheap in the supermarkets in California, but they also have a state income tax and really, really crappy schools.
I grew up in Tennessee, which has the strangest patch-work of liquor laws you will ever see, with every city and county having different rules. Sometimes you could buy a drink in a bar or restaurant, sometimes you had to bring your own in and buy a “setup” (for the same price as a drink elsewhere), sometimes you could only buy beer or wine. In Lynchburg, where Jack Daniels is made, you can’t (or at least you couldn’t then) legally take a drink anywhere, or any kind.
So when I moved to Washington some quarter-century ago, two things suprised me. The first was the sight of beer and wine being sold in grocery stores. You didn’t see that there, although it could be sold in convenience stores. Secondly, the absence of garish privately-owned liquor stores, sometimes two or three to a block, with neon signs, bars on the windows, and a security guard with a shotgun sitting on a stool by the door (they tended to get robbed a lot).
Personally, just to avoid the proliferation of privately-owned liquor stores beside the proliferating privately-owned mini-casinos, I would prefer the old system. It’s worth paying an extra buck or two for a bottle.
But I must confess that buying liquor is pretty low on my list of priorities. I usually don’t drink, unless its at a business dinner where it would be impolite not to have a glass of wine so that I would be able to respond to a toast (toasting with water is considered bad luck in Japan).
Speaking of revealing identities: NBC was reporting this morning that a “friend” revealed that Lindsey Lohan was attending AA classes. One of the NBC reporters commented that she must have not been much of a “friend”. And she was not much of a journalist for participating in that story.
There is a reason why it is called “Alchoholics Anonymous“. Few will attend otherwise. And although it may not be a cure-all, it certainly is effective for quite a few people. So NBC really needs to re-think whether it wants to join the “Inside Edition” and “Access Hollywood” form of “celebro-gossip” guised as news reporting. That is one story they should have passed on. If LL wants to say she is attending, then that is her business. Otherwise they should just keep quiet about it.
Of course, after posting this I realized I should have omitted her name from my post, also. Dang, I shouldn’t have turned that “hypocracy filter” off in my brain.
Of course, after posting this I realized I should have omitted her name from my post, also. Dang, I shouldn’t have turned that “hypocracy filter” off in my brain.
The way I heard it, she was wearing an AA pin of some sort in public. If that’s true, she wasn’t exactly taking great pains to hide it. Your sense of ethics, however, is commendable.
ArtFart says:
One thing to remember, gang, is that you can buy liquor for cheap in the supermarkets in California, but they also have a state income tax and really, really crappy schools.
12/01/2006 at 1:27 pm
Art Fart they don’t have hundreds of hidden taxes and still the creppy schools in Seattle. Now if we can get rid of the Teachers Union they (Seattle) might clean house.
Looks like Larry Corrigan also contributed to DEMOCRATS!
He gave money to RON SIMS, Larry Phillips, Cinthya Sullivan, Michael Spearman, and Mark Sidran.
art fart
Liberal logic fails you; crappy schools have nothing to do w/ state monopoly on vodka…
“Liberal logic fails you; crappy schools have nothing to do w/ state monopoly on vodka…”
Gads, another wingnut who doesn’t get this syllogism thing. Follow closely:
California has “really, really crappy schools” despite having an income tax, so the “wisdom” beind California’s liquor laws, or any of California’s laws for that matter, is suspect.
Despite the claim in the media that Corrigan is a Republican, perhaps- once again- Goldstein should do some independent research.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, when Corrigan was serving as Reichert’s treasurer, Reichert was running for a non-partisan position. A position to which he had been appointed by Ron Sims. And in both 1997 and 2001, while running for this non-partisan position, Reichert was endorsed by Sims, and endorsed Sims in return. And Sims was running for a partisan position- as a Democrat.
Of course, during that time Darcy Burner was voting in the Republican presidential primary.
Given Corrigan’s various political involvements, why does he NOW get characterized as a Republican?