Awkward questions

The General Assembly kicked off a new session on Monday with much of the legislative leadership reeling from media exposes of scandals and ethics controversies, some of them involving female lobbyists

The flurry of TV and newspaper stories over the past six weeks has resulted in some awkward encounters between politicians and reporters. I’m talking about very awkward.

One AJC reporter, who was recently interviewing media commentator Matt Towery for an article about past legislative scandals, tried to question Towery about a trip to Daufuskie Island, S.C. in 1995. On that memorable junket, a lobbyist hosted five House members and took along some exotic dancers from the Cheetah III nightclub in Atlanta to serve as hostesses.

Towery was one of the five legislators who participated in that Daufuskie outing. When questioned about it, he got flustered and told the reporter, “That question is out of bounds.”

Ironically, the lobbyist who set up that Daufuskie junket was Rusty Kidd of Milledgeville. Kidd was elected to the House in a special election last fall and began his career as a legislator on Monday, where he was introduced to House members by Rep. Mark Burkhalter — who also took part in that Daufuskie excursion.

Another AJC reporter at the Wild Hog supper Sunday evening tried to question Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle about rumors of an extra-marital incident that has been the subject of recent postings on political websites.

“That question is inappropriate,” Cagle told the reporter. “If you’ve got a question on substance, I’ll answer it, but I won’t answer silly questions.”

With those kinds of questions already hanging around, this could be a very uncomfortable session indeed.