Your Daily Pound Of Salt

Image credit: Real Simple (See Note)

This is, in many ways, a local story in a state I don't live in, not to mention a gossipy kind of story. For those reasons, I normally wouldn't touch it. On the surface it seems to be another story of conservative hypocrisy - a Republican legislator who has supported anti-gay legislation who, apparently, is gay. Unfortunately, so soon after defending Eric Massa from gossipy news reports, I feel compelled to point out that there may be less to this story than meets the eye, too.

California state representative Roy Ashburn, a Republican who lives in the Sacramento area, is in trouble for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, as Talking Points Memo reports:

Ashburn's blood alcohol level was .14 when he was picked up by police, according to the Sacramento DA. The legal limit is .08.

Gay Sacramento Pol: Ashburn Is A Regular At Gay Hotspots

To me, this is scandalous enough. Ashburn clearly isn't a kid in his twenties. His photo (see the story I just quoted) clearly shows he's in middle age. But that's not where this story ends:

The openly gay mayor of West Sacramento says that he's spotted state Sen. Roy Ashburn (R), who has racked up a consistently anti-gay voting record over the years, at gay clubs a number of times.

Gay Sacramento Pol: Ashburn Is A Regular At Gay Hotspots

I'm sure the mayor is pretty certain about this, but if the two of them didn't talk, it seems at least possible that there's someone else in Sacramento who resembles Ashburn. In addition, as TPM also reported, the owner and manager of the night club Ashburn was supposedly visiting before his DUI arrest don't recall seeing him there that night:

Tuesday night is Latin night at Faces, explained manager Laurie Bonifield in a phone interview. The club describes itself as "Sacramento's premier GLBTI Nightclub since 1985."

"Tuesday nights are a very, very huge Latin crowd. We don't see a lot of white guys here on a Tuesday night," Bonifield said. "A white guy would stick out like a sore thumb."

Gay Club Manager: I Didn't See Anti-Gay State Senator Here -- It Was Latin Night

There's also the fact that both the report about Ashburn's being at Faces and his being sighted by the mayor at other places both came from the same television station.

For now, this story strikes me as being a bit dubious. It may turn out to be true, and I wouldn't be surprised, but skepticism should be applied to all stories, not just to the ones we don't want to believe.


NOTE: This is just a nice, clear image of a salt shaker. Its use here does not constitute endorsement of the website by this blog, nor does it constitute an endorsement of this blog by the website. They do claim you can use salt as a scrubbing agent, though. Kinda cool if true.