Garn In Hot Water, But Not With A Fifteen-Year-Old Girl This Time

Ah, Spring.

The swallows have returned to Capistrano, the daffodils are blooming in Smallville, and another scandal rocks the world of politics.

Fresh on the heels of Eric Massa and his 50th Birthday Tickle-a-thon, comes this story out of Utah, where House Majority Leader, Republican Kevin Garn, resigned over the weekend after admitting, in the closing moments of the 2010 legislative session, of a decades-old, nude hot-tubbing incident with a then-15-year-old girl, and a subsequent $150,000 payment to the woman in 2002 for her silence. 

But, even as he resigned, Cheryl Maher, the woman involved in the 1985 incident, made new allegations about Garn's indiscretions.

In an e-mail sent to House Speaker David Clark, Garn said: 

"After discussing this matter with my family, I have decided that it is in the best interests of them, my colleagues and the people of Utah. As you know, it is a great honor to serve in the state Legislature. In fact, it has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I am proud of what I accomplished. I am proud to have worked with so many wonderful and talented public servants. I wish to thank those who entrusted me with this responsibility. I thank you for your steady leadership, and I sincerely apologize for becoming a distraction to the conclusion of an otherwise remarkable legislative session. I hope that my public service has changed Utah for the better."

Typical non-apologetic apology where you don't admit you did anything wrong.

While Utah GOP leaders work overtime to find a replacement for Garn, Cheryl Maher unleashed new allegations. Maher, who signed a non-disclosure agreement when she accepted the 150K from Garn, said she was disappointed in the media who portrayed her as a "gold digger." Um, Cheryl? The money paid for your silence, which you did not keep, makes you a gold-digger. If you simply wanted the truth to come out, you wouldn't have accepted the cash. Honey.

But Maher now insists that she wasn't the only female employee with whom Garn had contact. 

"There were other girls. After me, it was Liz … Liz Moody now. She used to be Liz Smuin."

I don't know who is the biggest scum. Garn, who appears to be a serial hot-tubber with young girls, or Maher, who prefers to sell her indiscretions to the highest bidder for keeping her mouth shut, and then talking.

Both of them make me sick.