Here is the contentious statement, according to Raw Story:
“For years, individuals who sit on this committee and in this building have known that they have been raping the children of MPS,” Taylor had said during a Joint Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The Democratic senator added that she understands how caustic the word “rape” sounds, “but when you consider the fact that 15 out of 100 kids can read on grade level while $89 million have been skimmed from the education of kids…who are you fooling?”
GOP-ers immediately demanded an apology from Taylor.
“Shameful,” Republican state Rep. John Jagler complained on Twitter.
State Rep. Jim Steineke (R) said that the analogy was “unconscionable.” He noted that if one of the Republican lawmakers made the same remark, the backlash would have been severe.
“They would be all over us, asking for that person’s head,” he noted. “Yet, when one of their own says something like this – it’s crickets.”
But Taylor said that she, as a sexual assault victim, chose her words with care.
“As a survivor, I understand the cumulative effect of their policies. Our children deserve the very best,” Taylor explained. “It was painful for me, yesterday. It was painful. It was painful for me. I understand that pain. That pain equates for me,” she told WKOW 27.
In response to the Republican criticism, Taylor says she has come to grips with the fact that “everyone can’t understand the pathway, the valley that gets me to the seat that I sit in.”
But Steineke won’t back off Taylor without pulling a “sorry” out of her:
“Sen Taylor doubles down on rape comparison. Being victimized yourself should make you more sensitive, not less #wiright #WomenDeserveBetter,” he tweeted.
What do you think? Did Taylor take it too far in using “rape” as a comparison to poor school funding?
