Indiana GOP Leader, a Champion of “Family Values,” Resigns After Blasting Out Sexually Explicit Video

We should be used to politicians hell-bent on “protecting the institution of marriage” doing things that make them and their positions look utterly foolish. Think Newt Gingrich‘s three divorces, or the the bigoted Missouri GOP leader sexting his interns, or the pro-life Tennessee representative who encouraged by his wife and mistress to seek abortions. There’s a whole lot of hypocrisy on the “traditional values” side of the aisle, but there’s also a difference between stupid and really stupid. Just ask Indiana GOP House Majority Leader Jud McMillin.

Does that name sound familiar? It might to those of you who followed Indiana’s “protection of LGBT discrimination” Religious Freedom debacle, because he was one of the law’s co-sponsors. But this champion of the sanctity of marriage will probably be better remembered for his most recent, scandalous misstep: sending a sexually explicit video of himself to every single person in his phone’s contact list:

After news of the mass-texting began to circulate, Representative Jud McMillin (R) claimed that his “phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received.”

But his “Canadian girlfriend stole my phone” defense apparently didn’t convince many of his “Contacts” — or at least, not the ones who mattered — and so Tuesday night he released a statement in which he said that the “time is right for me to pass the torch and spend more time with my family.”

During his five years in the legislature, McMillin has crusaded to “protect the integrity of the institution of marriage,” but the Advocate reported that the woman on the video he texted was not, in fact, his wife. According to his campaign website, he claimed that “the family has always been the foundation of our strength of community” and that “[i]n these times of turmoil the rest of the country could learn something from our example.”

Oops.

To be fair, gross technological ineptitude aside, McMillan is certainly in good company, and is unlikely to be the last to join the ranks of the thoroughly disgraced. There’s still a great deal of satisfaction in watching the hypocrites knocked down a peg. So much for those good ol’ traditional family values, eh?

(Image via Indiana House Republicans)