2944
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Cory Liebmann
May 19, 2011
None of the six Republican state senators facing recall this summer are friends of the LGBT community. That is clear in their repeated votes for the 2006 marriage ban and in their votes against the state domestic partnership registry in 2009.
Usually when there is so much hostility toward the LGBT community a healthy dose of hypocrisy is not far behind. One particularly glaring example of this involves Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay.
Senator Cowles was quoted in 2008 as saying, “I’d like to think that I have family values.”
That was a week before it was reported that his “values” apparently didn’t make it into his investment portfolio. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Cowles actually owned stock in two companies in the adult entertainment industry.
The first company highlighted was VCG Holding, which owns a chain of 20 strip clubs across the country. The company also has a licensing agreement with the publisher of Penthouse magazine.
The second adult entertainment company that Cowles owned stock in was Rick’s Cabaret International. Rick’s also has strip clubs all across the country and operates several adult-themed websites, as well as such magazines as TEEZE, Exotic Dancer and StorErotica.
Cowles admitted that he knew about his investment in strip clubs, but said that he had no idea about the other operations. This is hard to believe, given his level of investment in both companies. The 2008 Statement of Economic Interests that he filed with the state reported that he owned more than $50,000 in stock in both companies. Most people would know the details about a company before investing at such a high level.
In his 2008 SEI filing, Cowles fully disclosed his interest in VCG Holding, but he listed the more conspicuously named Rick’s International Cabaret only as “Rick” on the form. The entire point of having elected officials report their financial interests is public transparency. But how was the average citizen to know what Cowles’ major investment in “Rick” was really all about?
The obfuscation was likely intentional.
Most people’s personal investments are no one else’s business. However, elected officials who seek to impose their self-proclaimed “family values” on other people are fair game for this sort of revelation. Acting morally superior to others and claiming the mantel of “family values” while heavily investing in strip clubs smacks of blatant hypocrisy.
