Orientation

The first of two Florida Politics and Sex stories. From the Tampa Tribune-

TAMPA - A security camera perched near the outside bar at Jackson's Bistro captured a woman recoiling as Hillsborough County's chief tax collector kissed and touched her, her attorney said Monday.

The camera's images are part of a police investigation into whether Hillsborough County Tax Collector Doug Belden inappropriately touched the woman while she dined at the Harbour Island restaurant Oct. 12.

Her attorney, Jeff Brown of St. Petersburg, said Monday that Belden, 52, touched and kissed her on the cheek.

Brown said the tape also showed Belden placing his head on Julie A. Irwin's lap, where she was holding her dog, and that the tax collector, unprompted, kissed at least one other woman that night.

Tampa police spokesman Larry McKinnon said detectives hope to conclude their battery investigation this week. Police have released few details in the case.

Belden who lives with his son I think we can safely assume is heterosexual.

On the other hand, there's this article/column concerning Charlie Crist.

A young rising star in the Republican Party has boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governor's race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay.

The GOP staffer, 21-year-old Jason Wetherington, told friends at separate social functions in August that he had sex with Crist, according to two credible and independent sources who heard Wetherington make the claim first-hand.

Wetherington, who recently worked as a field director for U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris and currently works for state representative Ellyn Bodganoff's reelection campaign, also named a man whom he said is Crist's long-term partner, a convicted thief named Bruce Carlton Jordan who also recently worked for Harris in her long-shot Senate bid.

The author of this article is Bob Norman who also blogs at The Daily Pulp. He is also the author of this 2003 article on Mark Foley. I met Bob in person at this event a week ago.

While there is no proof that what Wetherington has said is true, it's clear that he said it. I first learned about his claims after receiving an anonymous e-mail on October 6. The e-mail was linked to a 2003 story of mine reporting that now-disgraced congressman Mark Foley was gay.

"Why don't you do the same story for another hugely visible FL politician running for office? Call if you want a starting point."

Immediately I knew the e-mailer was referring to Crist. For years, it has been rumored that Crist, the favorite to move into the governor's mansion after the November 7 election, is gay.

I was interested in pursuing the lead mainly because I've come to believe that any closeted politician in the Republican Party — which openly woos homophobes into its ranks while opposing gay rights — is fair game for the media.

Crist, for his part, has been moderate on those issues and supports civil unions. "I'm a live and let live kind of guy," he told me.

But the Palm Beach Post reported on Friday that Crist can be heard in recently recorded phone calls targeting voters saying, "I support a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriages, and I oppose adoption by gay couples."

I asked him about that, and he said he's always held those positions. I asked him if he thought it was fair for reporters to ask him about his own sexuality. "Of course it's fair," he said. "It's just happens to be wrong."

Many people aren't convinced that Crist is telling the truth. I am one of them, especially after reporting this column.

I don't know what to think. Go and read the entire column and draw your own conclusions. Crist's sexual orientation will not be the deciding factor in who I vote for on November 7th in the Florida Governor's race.

Hat tip- Mr C at Peer Review FL
Linked to- Cao's Blog, Third World County, Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Right Wing Nation, TMH's Bacon Bits,