Thursday, October 11, 2012
1:37 PM
Ryan, Walker withdraw endorsements of Rivard
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker today withdrew their endorsements of freshman Rep. Roger Rivard over the state lawmaker's comments in a 2011 interview that his father told him, "Some girls rape easy."
Ryan campaign manager Kevin Seifert called the comments "outrageous and offensive" in rescinding the Ryan endorsement. Walker called them "disrepectful to victims of rape."
Rivard made the comments in a December interview with The Chetek Alert in which he was asked about statutory rape, juvenile sexual assault, and Romeo and Juliet laws. In explaining the advice his father gave him, Rivard went on to say the suggestion was some women might give in and then change their minds later.
U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Weston, also announced today that he was donating $500 -- equal to the donations Rivard made to his 2010 and 2012 campaigns -- to the Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse in Superior and denounced the comments.
Rivard faces Dem Stephen Smith Nov. 6 for the northern Wisconsin seat that runs from Spooner in Washburn County south through Rice Lake and Chetek in Barron County.
-- By JR Ross
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