for our lawmakers.

From yesterday’s online posting for the News & Observer:

An anonymous social media post over the weekend claimed that a group of North Carolina politicians were drunk and disruptive during a tour of a distillery in Kentucky.

The post caused a stir in political circles, but officials questioned about the post Monday didn’t have answers about what happened.

In a Reddit post titled “Disappointing behavior from NC legislators,” a Reddit user identifying themselves as a “representative” of a Kentucky distillery wrote that the facility recently hosted a group of 33 people from North Carolina, including legislators and government officials.

The article goes on to state,

The post’s author wrote that the group arrived an hour late and “already inebriated from drinking bourbon on the bus” and that it was “marked by loud, unruly conduct that disrupted other guests and tarnished the atmosphere we work hard to maintain.”

WRAL.com’s post offered some more:

“Despite being extremely rude, disruptive, not tipping the bartender and tour guides, and even vomiting in our bathroom sinks, not a single apology was offered,” the post said, describing the scene as “appalling.”

Both articles mentioned above name Rep. Jason Saine, a longtime lawmaker in NC. He said that he doesn’t respond to anonymous posts. Then maybe he should remove all doubt and openly acknowledge anything that might have happened to verify this report.

If teachers and educators are being submitted to anonymous tip lines and other measures to “out” classroom activities, then Saine can step up to address this.

And there was this…

If all or some of this is true, then there should be disciplinary measures taken. Considering that it concerns behavior which is supposed to be a model for school age children and young adults, the lack of decency and common courtesy from those who might be running on platforms dealing with school discipline issues is beyond ironic.

Yet that lack of tipping service workers? That seems on par with a lawmaking body whose budgets shortchange public schools and other social services and still maintains the lowest legal minimum wage as well as the worst unemployment benefits in the nation while keeping corporate taxes at an all-time low.

And maybe Rep. Saine should speak up about spending money. Remember this?

He made a lot of news in 2015 when he spent nearly $20,000 of campaign money on clothes. An August 10th, 2015 report by Jim Morrill (“Rep. Jason Saine defends $19,000 clothing buy“) stated,

“N.C. Rep. Jason Saine on Monday defended spending more than $19,000 in campaign money on clothes, including some from a custom tailor in Charlotte.

Saine, a Lincolnton Republican, cited the spending on his most recent campaign report. It was first reported on The Daily Haymaker, a conservative website.

Saine spent $17,908 on clothes from Tom James Co., which bills itself as “the world’s largest manufacturer of custom clothing.”

That’s over half the salary of many of the teachers I work with even after those “historic” raises.

Yet it is a quote by you in that report that really frames the need for fully funding the schools that we already have. You said,

“I get the sticker shock. But it’s part of the cost of doing the business that I’m in.”

This is more than just “sticker shock.”