GOP State Rep. Filmed Pouring Water Into Colleague's Bag Multiple Times
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A Republican lawmaker in Vermont apologized on Tuesday for pouring water into a Democratic colleague’s bag on multiple occasions.
“I am truly ashamed for my actions,” Vermont state Rep. Mary Morrissey (R) said at a House veto session Monday. “It was conduct most unbecoming of my position as a representative and as a human being, and is not reflective of my 28 years of service and civility.”
Fellow state Rep. Jim Carroll (D), the object of Morrissey’s ire, said she’d soaked his bag for five months. “It was torment, there’s no doubt about it,” he said on the floor, following Morrisey’s apology.
The incident started after Carroll became curious as to how a bag he hung outside of a meeting room kept getting soaked, despite not being near a source of water.
Carroll eventually concluded someone was targeting him, but officials couldn’t do anything without evidence, so he placed a video camera toward the coatrack where he held his bag, local outlet Seven Days reported.
He struck pay dirt and filmed two videos of Morrissey emptying a cup of water into his bag, one of which can be seen below.
He told the site that he was reluctant to disclose the videos because he didn’t want to embarrass Morrissey, before Seven Days broke the story earlier this month.
During Monday’s public apology, Morrissey claimed she had no idea why she soaked Carroll’s bag on multiple occasions.
But tensions had been running high even before the bag incidents. Carroll told SevenDaysVT that Morrissey had verbally harassed him for voting in favor of enshrining the right to an abortion in the Vermont Constitution.
In addition, Carroll said when he returned to the legislature after a stint in rehab precipitated by a DUI arrest, he heard Morrissey tell colleagues, “He looks soused to me!”
Speaking after her apology, Carroll expressed his disappointment. Each time the Republican soaked his bag, he said, “she didn’t choose to either drop it or come to me and say ‘I’m sorry, I screwed up, let’s put our heads together and serve our constituents the way they ought to be.’”
Although Carroll is willing to talk things out with Morrissey, he said it may be “awkward, but we have to start somewhere.”
A state House Ethics Panel is investigating the incident, and if it determines Morrissey violated ethics rules she could face disciplinary measures. In addition, her behavior led House Speaker Jill Krowinski to keep Morrissey from serving on a key committee, Seven Days reported.
HuffPost has reached out to Morrissey and Carroll for comment.
