Republican Iowa state Rep. Ross Paustian was caught reading a sexual self-help book during a House session in the Iowa state legislature, reported ABC News.
Brianne Pfannenstiel, reporter with The Des Moines Register, snapped a picture of Paustian and posted it to Twitter.
OK folks, here’s context on the now infamous Paustian photo: http://t.co/Xy157ccRTgpic.twitter.com/j51bnc5L1J
— Brianne Pfannenstiel (@brianneDMR) March 18, 2015
The photo went viral, of course. Paustian received some backlash after the photo surfaced because many felt that he rudely disengaged from the debate that was taking place at the time.
“I’m getting a lot of pretty vicious emails from people, so I have to explain,” Paustian told KCRG. “The main thing is I was totally engaged in what was going on on the floor . . . I knew what was going on. I knew how we were going to vote on amendments. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on.”
Pfannenstiel provided some context in an article published by The Register. During a collective bargaining debate for teachers, Paustian said Iowa House Republicans passed the book around while Democrats took the floor.
However, since Raw Story reported that Republican Rep. Clel Baudler was watching Netflix on his computer, it’s safe to assume that some Republicans weren’t paying attention to the session.
There’s nothing wrong with anyone reading such books, but please wait until you’re not at work to do so.
