This just in from the Lowell Sun:
The salacious details of Sen. J. James Marzilli’s sex-assault arrest in Lowell on Tuesday had lawmakers buzzing on Beacon Hill yesterday as his colleagues reacted with disbelief.
One high-ranking senator said Marzilli should resign as he and other lawmakers expressed sympathy for his wife, family and the women involved in the allegations.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Steve Panagiotakos said he thinks Marzilli should resign over the charges.
The Massachusetts Republican Party has called for his resignation if the charges against him are accurate.
Lowell police arrested Marzilli after he allegedly shouted sexually suggestive comments to one woman in downtown Lowell Tuesday afternoon and tried to grab another woman’s genital area on a park bench on Middle Street.
Details of the woman’s statement to police and the lewd comments allegedly made by Marzilli were read aloud in court yesterday and spread quickly through the Legislature.
“It’s very troubling,” Panagiotakos said. “It almost leaves you speechless with the anger you feel if those charges are true.”
Panagiotakos saw Marzilli on Tuesday morning at an open house for a Lowell textile company. He said he did not notice any unusual behavior, but left the event early with Sen. Susan Tucker, D-Andover.
Moral of the story: Don’t F*($ with Lowell or Pangy will personally take you out. Go Pangy.
It’s good to see someone on the Hill has some sense. Democrat or not, this is not too hard to figure out. This guy hid his perversions long enough to get elected a Rep. Then he fooled everyone long enough to get elected a Senator. He should admit guilt, step down and spare the poor women he’s acosted from any more publicity. Secondary to that, he could spare the party some ugly press.
I’ll agree with the rest of your sentiments, but I just want to point out that there is no indication that he hid any perversions from anybody. It sounds more like he snapped somehow. This may well turn out to be incorrect, of course.
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p>Standard disclaimer: This in no way excuses his behaviour, and he almost certainly should step down.
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p>But it also should not detract from all the good he’s done while in office.
Snapped when? Because news reports in today’s Boston Globe indicate that this behavior did not start in the past couple of months, but may have been going on for a while.
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p>While not everything he did may have been a crime, it seems the pattern is longer than would explain a sudden snap.
From the Globe:
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p>This coupled with the statement in the Police Report that Marzilli was up in Lowell the prior week staking out the woman he touched inappropriately. It seems the Senator is living a double life. And to Laurel’s point in another thread. This is exactly the same as Larry Craig, because all the while professing to be a champion of women’s right, Marzilli’s been abusing them it seems. Sound hypocritical to me.
He is the alpha dog in Lowell politics. You mess with Lowell, you mess with Pangy. He don’t take lightly people messin’ with Lowell. Marzilli picked the wrong town for his happy fingers.
Unfortunately no matter what explanation is provided, in an attempt to explain his behavior, nothing can excuse it and the victims (innocent residents of Massachusetts) still remain. It is time for Senator Marzilli to do the right thing and step down to allow the time and attention to fade so the lives of his victims and his own well being can be addressed. Dragging this on further in the public does no good and only serves to undermine the good Jim did as a Representative. He has a 17 year career that we can look at and see the accomplishments of a well respected State Legislator. The events of the past few months are now only serving to erode the good he had done and eclipsing them with the dark actions of the present.
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p>Senator Marzilli you have a new challenge to deal with and it no longer allows room to serve the people of Arlington or the State of Massachusetts. It is time to put the same energy into this challenge as you have the many you have won with great distinction.
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p>Do the right thing and put an end to what is spiraling into a three-ring circus and further injuring the innocents you have turned into victims.
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p>As Usual just my Opinions