At the least, Wiener displays stunning ignorance
Heath Haussamen
Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener loaned his smiling face to the sex tourism industry – and possibly sex slavery – in a less-developed nation, and says that’s no different than posing with women at Hooters here. How very American.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener thinks there’s no difference between posing for a photo with women who work at Hooters and those in the Philippines who may very well be sex slaves.
Yes, really. Here’s the written statement the Republican provided to the Huffington Post:
“NOTHING untoward ever happened. NOTHING. The pictures taken are as innocent as any that could be taken at Twin Peaks or Hooters here.”
Forget for a minute the possibilities about what might have happened that Wiener isn’t telling us. Let’s take his story at face value.
Wiener says he was in the Philippines to visit his 12-year-old daughter. He says he had a layover in Angeles City, at night, and took a cab into town. He says he was traveling with his girlfriend.
In a city of more than 300,000 people, he went to the red-light district. He didn’t say whether he knew the area was a red-light district. Here’s what he was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal as saying:
“I just wanted to take a quick tour. It’d be like if people go to Las Vegas and they want to go to the casinos, but they don’t gamble. I was just curious. I walked from one end to the other.”
Of a red-light district.
A man who has a 12-year-old daughter living in the Philippines, a country in which human trafficking and child prostitution are serious problems, says he was approached by an American who wanted to photograph him with scantily clad women, so he obliged.
In a red-light district, he posed for a photo with women who may very well be sex slaves.
At the very least, Wiener’s actions show a stunning level of ignorance of the plight of people around him. He loaned his smiling face to the sex tourism industry – and possibly sex slavery – in a less-developed nation by posing for a photo with the women.
How very American.
The photo was as innocent as any that could be taken with women who serve food, voluntarily, in America, for at least minimum wage and with other worker protections? I don’t think so. I’m no fan of restaurants like Hooters, and haven’t been in one in more than a decade because I don’t appreciate the way they objectify women, but it’s not the same.
Shouldn’t women who work at those American restaurants be offended by the comparison?
Sadly, Wiener doesn’t appear to understand the gravity of his actions. Does he know that these women might be sex slaves? Does he care?
Or are these women in the Philippines, and the women who work at Twin Peaks and Hooters, nothing but objects to Wiener? He’s given us no indication that anything else is the truth.
If he could just get arrested or at least a warrant issued he’s the kind of guy the voters of Sunland Park would overwhelming back.
Prostitution needs to be legalized and regulated. If there is a demand for it, there is not stopping it in all the history of humankind. Prohibition only makes exploitation of women and children easier by leaving in the hands of criminals.
I agree with powake. There are organizations right here in New Mexico that are fighting exploitation and abuse of women and children. Here’s an article from a Google search for “human trafficking in New Mexico.” Go after the “pimps who are family members” described in the article. That is more difficult though.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/Human-traffickers-eye-kids-for-more-profit
Sorry, but this article feels just a little too sanctimonious for me. Are you upset that he went to a prostitute or that he went to a prostitute and had his picture taken with her? If you want to address the issue of prostitution in the whole world starting such a campaign with a small time politician who visits a prostitute 12000 miles away just doesn’t quite strike me as the jumping off place for that crusade. I’d like to see some follow up with a story about what the governor is doing to curb prostitution in NM that doesn’t involve her asking for another ‘weener’ to quit his job. Why are we allowing Craigslist, right here in Las Cruces, to run ads for prostitutes? Personally, I’d like to have a little meat with those potatoes.
Just so Heath. May I add that there are no “women” under the age of 21 at hooters.
As much as he’d like to think otherwise, Weiner is done politically and should quit. We need better representation here and at the national level – not just more of the same self-indulged “hot dogs”.
Never underestimate stupidity. Seems like the wrong type of politician to have this “forgiven”
Were he to run for political office again the stunning thing would be that in my native state of New Mexico he would have a good chance of winning.
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