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Roger Rivard Picks Up Backing From Wisconsin Family Values Group After Saying 'Some Girls Rape Easy'

Family Values Group Backs Lawmaker Who Said 'Some Girls Rape Easy'
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By 

Washington Bureau Chief, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON -- Prominent Republicans in Wisconsin quickly dropped their support for state Rep. Roger Rivard (R-River Lake) after he told a newspaper that "[s]ome girls rape easy." But much like after Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) made his controversial comments about "legitimate rape" and lost the backing of the GOP establishment, social conservatives and at least one "family values" group are rushing in to help.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Family Action PAC -- which bills itself as committed to "strengthening and preserving marriage, family, life and liberty" -- endorsed Rivard.

"We are very pleased to endorse candidates who recognize the importance of America's and Wisconsin's best natural resource -- her traditional families -- and who realize that our state's and our country's well-being is closely tied to the strength of this resource. These are candidates who will, in both policy and practice, work to help ensure that our families become or remain independent of government," said WFA PAC director Julaine Appling in a statement.

Appling told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that WFA PAC endorsed Rivard because of his stance on issues, but she declined to comment on his rape remark.

Rivard actually made his controversial remark -- which he said was advice shared with him by his father -- in December, when he talked to The Chetek Alert newspaper about the case of a 17-year-old high school student who was charged with sexual assault after having sex with an underage girl in the band room. The interview came to wider public notice after the Journal-Sentinel reported on it last week.

Rivard told the Journal-Sentinel that his comments were "taken out of context," saying his father meant to convey that if "you do (have premarital sex), just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry."

"Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she's not going to say, 'Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.' All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she's underage. And he just said, 'Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,' he said, 'they rape so easy,'" Rivard said.

The district attorney involved in the case recently said that there was nothing consensual about the incident; rather, that it was "a sex act perpetrated by force against the will of the victim."

Rivard is a freshman lawmaker and is stuck in a tight race for reelection against Democrat Stephen Smith.

He has since lost the backing of Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson, Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

The pattern of what Rivard is going through is similar to what Akin experienced in his bid for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, after he said that women are physically able to stop themselves from being pregnant if they are victims of a "legitimate rape." The GOP establishment -- including the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS -- pulled their financial support from Akin, and many Republicans called for him to bow out. Social conservatives, however, stuck by his side and have remained committed to helping him defeat Sen. Claire McCaskill (R-Mo.).

Since then, the GOP establishment has slowly begun moving back into the race, with former presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, as well as the National Federation of Independent Business, all endorsing Akin.

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Before You Go

Tea Party Statements
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During Nevada's 2010 Senate election, an audio clip surfaced of Sharron Angle raising "Second Amendment remedies" as a viable solution to take when "government becomes out of control."The Tea Party-backed hopeful ultimately proved unsuccessful in her campaign to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. (credit:Getty)
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Ken Buck, a Tea Party-backed contender who ultimately fell short in his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, made headlines in 2010 when he quipped that people should vote for him "because I do not wear high heels."
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Rep. Michele Bachmann said in October of 2006, "There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." (credit:AP)
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HuffPost's Jen Bendery reported in April of this year:
As many as 80 House Democrats are communists, according to Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.).West warned constituents at a Tuesday town hall event that he's "heard" that dozens of his Democratic colleagues in the House are members of the Communist Party, the Palm Beach Post reported. There are currently 190 House Democrats.West spokeswoman Angela Melvin later defended West's comments -- and clarified to whom West was referring."The Congressman was referring to the 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies. The Progressive Caucus speaks for itself. These individuals certainly aren't proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom," Melvin said in a statement to The Huffington Post.
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The AP reported in August of 2010 on then-New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino:
Throughout his campaign, Paladino has criticized New York's rich menu of social service benefits, which he says encourages [undocumented] immigrants and needy people to live in the state. He has promised a 20 percent reduction in the state budget and a 10 percent income tax cut if elected.Asked at the meeting how he would achieve those savings, Paladino laid out several plans that included converting underused state prisons into centers that would house welfare recipients. There, they would do work for the state - "military service, in some cases park service, in other cases public works service," he said - while prison guards would be retrained to work as counselors."Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we'll teach people how to earn their check. We'll teach them personal hygiene ... the personal things they don't get when they come from dysfunctional homes," Paladino said....Paladino told The Associated Press the dormitory living would be voluntary, not mandatory, and would give welfare recipients an opportunity to take public, state-sponsored jobs far from home."These are beautiful properties with basketball courts, bathroom facilities, toilet facilities. Many young people would love to get the hell out of cities," Paladino he said.He also defended his hygiene remarks, saying he had trained inner-city troops in the Army and knows their needs."You have to teach them basic things - taking care of themselves, physical fitness. In their dysfunctional environment, they never learned these things," he said.
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