This is Eric Bodenweiser, Republican candidate for the Delaware State Senate and anti-gay member of the Delaware Family Policy Council. Bodenweiser, 53, was viewed as unbeatable in the race against his Democratic challenger right up to the time the family values candidate was arrested for allegedly having unlawful sex acts with a 13-year-old boy.
Bodenweiser is facing 113 felony sex charges, including 39 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse — first-degree and 74 counts of unlawful sexual contact — second-degree. The boy who allegedly was sexually abused by Bodenweiser between Oct. 1, 1987 and Aug. 31, 1990 when he was between the ages of 10 and 13. The victim is now in his 30s.
Bodenweiser was endorsed in his State Senate race by Christine O’Donnell, the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Delaware. O’Donnell, who was ridiculed for once saying that she dabbled in witchcraft, now has found someone more controversial than herself. O’Donnell came to the defense of Bodenweiser:
CHRISTINE O’DONNELL: That’s why these sort of, charges are so, are so, potent as political weapons because they put a seed of doubt in someone’s mind. If you do it as an October surprise there’s not enough time between when they throw the bomb on election day for the truth to really emerge and, um, it’s just, it’s tacky and it’s what happened to our political system.
Bodenweiser had won an upset against the incumbent Republican with the help of the Tea Party. O’Donnell cites his victory as an encouragement for her to run again with the resurgence of conservative values and agreed to campaign for him. In what could be a much repeated statement by Bodenweiser at the time, the candidate stated “I asked Christine to speak at my fundraiser because I consider her a friend and we hold the same principles and values. She has been the top vote getter in Sussex County over the past four years. Her record in Sussex County proves it. Hopefully, some of her ability to win votes will rub off on me.”
Bodenweiser pledged that, when he took office, he would “weed out the liberals” and expose them by introducing ultraconservative legislation.
Bodenweiser helped run his family’s business Bodie’s Dairy Markets, a chain of six local convenience stores and Laundromats. The chain was sold in 2001. His campaign website touted how he was an active middle school mentor. According to news reports, Bodenweiser was a mentor for children at Georgetown Middle School and North Georgetown Elementary School.
If convicted, such access to children could be cited to increase sentencing for Bodenweister. Given the repeated alleged abuse over a long period of time, he would be looking at a considerable sentence — enough to put him behind bars for the rest of his life on the upper end of the scale — though O’Donnell might view that as a bit “tacky.”
Source: Washington Blade
Gene, You question everyone but yourself.
Waldo,
You mistake political pragmatism about the parties involved for faith in authority. Putting your neck on the line to prosecute someone like this – a state level operative – without having some substance to the case simply doesn’t make political sense. I’m pretty sure Biden read “The Prince” and Cicero too. But the veracity of the claims and the evidence? That’s for trial. It’s not a perfect process, but it is a largely functional process. There are far more instances of justice being carried out (especially in criminal court) than justice being miscarried although that does happen for a variety of reasons and should be both a matter of concern and something everyone has a vested interest in making sure is minimized. Because that’s the best we humans can do – work on perfecting a system of justice that by its very nature will always have some amount of error in it due to both complexity and human error.
But respect authority? I’m not exactly known for that. I question everyone. In this instance though and these circumstances I have to go with the prosecution’s own selfish motives at having a winning record over a fairly petty political prosecution that they think has little chance of success other than to put this guy in a bind.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20121030/DW01/310300027/Senate-race-spurred-Bodenweiser-accuser I have a friend in her fifties that is dealing with sexual abuse as a child by a neighbor. Her abuser is dead, but i will bet if he were alive and running for office she would come forward, too.
Gene, I understand the police and DA are not going to file charges against the guy unless they think they can get a conviction. But, I have to strenuously disagree with your statement that “However, one does not get in this position without doing something that is 1) suspect enough to draw charges – especially that many – and 2) is operating in some kind of way hypocritical to a “family values” platform even if he’s not a pederast.” People lie. People make mistakes. Entirely innocent people are falsely accused and even falsely convicted. I have no clue what the evidence is against this guy, but I will never take the fact of arrest itself as 100% proof of some kind of misconduct. I think it is unwise to put that much faith in any authority.
Dear Dan… “Tampering” is trying to disenfranchise legitimate voters, as was done by the Tea Party in North Carolina when they claimed that thousands of “dead people” were voting-a claim that was later proven to be 100% false Tampering is the Tea Party’s attempts to shorten voting periods and require that voters show government issued picture ID in various states…tactics that have been declared unconstitutional again and again by the courts…”Tampering” is NOT telling the truth…no matter when it comes out. This guy would not be sitting in jail in an orange jump suit charged with over a hundred felony counts if this were a simple attempt to smear his name right before an election. He’s a pedophile, the worst kind of hypocrite and a disgrace to his party. Get a grip.
It doesn’t take a shrink to look @ the mugshot and know what’s going on in his head. And, speaking of heads, he uses Grecian Formula. In the joint his master will probably have him grow that hair and maybe wear braids w/ little ribbons.
SWM, did you see the story I linked to earlier this morning about former Penn State University President Graham Spanier being charged?
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/07/25/former-penn-state-president-criticizes-former-general-counsel-for-failures-in-sandusky-scandal/#comment-441883
Dan,
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The DE State AG is doing their job in prosecuting alleged criminals based on complaints and evidence they deem sufficient to merit filing charges. Their primary duty is to the law, not political considerations. Forestalling filing could be equally viewed as election tampering, however, tampering is unlikely in the extreme is this instance absent concrete proof to the contrary. In the case of Delaware, the State AG is a career pol. His father is Vice President. If he brought a case like this he didn’t think was solid it could wreck his career and get some dirt on his dad who does want to be President after Obama. Beau Biden is a smarter operator than that. Both strategically and tactically politically and from a pure procedural standpoint, I’d be very surprised if the AG didn’t have all of his ducks in a row before they proceeded with this prosecution.
Dan,
I don’t know how to break this to you, but pedophilia does not get one a free pass just because the alleged offender is running for some office. That is not election tampering, it is law enforcement.
Sometime it takes a very long time to catch up with these guys. Just look at the priest scandals and Sandusky.
I think the timeing of this is maybe a felony. I think it is aganst the law to tamper with elections.
The undercurrent to this post by JT is that very few of them get caught, because fully functional psychopaths are far more elusive than the clown variety psychopath this “family values guy” exhibits.
These types evidently believe the mantra of the past Republican decade:
(When You Are Governed By Psychopaths, quoting Karl Rove). If they believe that crap deeply and intensely enough they are bound to go off the deep end at times.
From the source:
“The indictment came less than a week after Eric Bodenweiser, 53, abruptly dropped out of his race for a State Senate seat in a conservative-leaning district near Rehoboth Beach that includes the City of Georgetown.
The indictment includes 113 felony sex charges, including 39 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse — first-degree and 74 counts of unlawful sexual contact — second-degree. Although the indictment doesn’t identify the gender of the victim, the Gape Gazette identified the victim as a boy who allegedly was sexually abused by Bodenweiser between Oct. 1, 1987 and Aug. 31, 1990 when he was between the ages of 10 and 13.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson for the Delaware Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the case, said the victim, who is now in his 30s, has spoken to the media and revealed details not disclosed in the indictment but which are expected to surface at a trial.”
As a general rule, a State AG won’t file 113 charges if they don’t think they have a case. That’s a lot of work if they don’t have some kind of substantive and meritorious evidence that warrants judicial review. Should the man be jailed without trial? No. But his withdrawal from the race immediately preceding the charges being filed tend to inform that there may be fire to go along with this smoke. If the charges were baseless? Running away from a political fight (even if framed as a law suit) doesn’t sound like an act of confidence in proof of innocence. A smaller aside is that the booking photo shows him in his oranges meaning he was fully processed and remanded to custody. No street clothes snap and an ROR for him is also a sign the prosecution feels they’ve got a pretty good case. That being said, it could have been a purely economic decision to withdraw – fight for election made dubious by the situation or fight the charges and not enough resources for doing both simultaneously. The proof is in the eating of the pudding which will happen at trial. However, one does not get in this position without doing something that is 1) suspect enough to draw charges – especially that many – and 2) is operating in some kind of way hypocritical to a “family values” platform even if he’s not a pederast.
Although he looks guilty on the mug shot (who doesn’t), so far there is nothing substantial about these charges based on this post. What do we know for sure? Maybe we ought to just refrain from commenting until some evidence is presented. Never thought that would happen but do agree with O’Donnell about that.
….if this is true why wasn’t it pursued earlier? So the law exists only to pursue those whose power is perceived to challenge someone elses territory? Blech. This kind of creepshow makes the whole country no better than the mafia…..
blech blech blech…I am absolutely disgusted with politics. I question the number of accusations against people running for office….if this is true why wasn’t it pursued earlier? If it isn’t true then what gross disgusting mobsterish piggishness is at loose in our Country to smear people in this manner just cause someone has a big joneson for power???? Politics is beginning to stink loudly…. …..
Holy cow! If these charges are true and there is a busload of them, this guy will be spending a lot of time wondering about dropping the soap.
Well, at least he’s not a witch. And if it’s sex with a boy, how could that possibly be homosexual? A boy is just a girl who doesn’t scream, right?
Gene,
Thanx … off to a pre-school Halloween party!
“Eric Bodenweiser, Republican candidate for the Delaware State Senate and anti-gay member of the Delaware Family Policy Council
“Delaware Family Policy Council (DFPC) is pleased to present the 2012 Values Scorecard. DFPC is a 501c4 member-driven organization committed to standing for values that strengthen Delaware families.””
I wonder if they hastily removed his name from their
General Election “Values Scorecard.”
http://www.delawarefamilies.org/
Delaware Family Policy Council (DFPC) is pleased to present the 2012 Values Scorecard. DFPC is a 501c4 member-driven organization committed to standing for values that strengthen Delaware families.
It is our mission to strengthen and shield families, and engage the citizenry of Delaware in advocating for the timeless values that make our families thrive.
We are passionate about preserving and protecting our faith, family and freedom. We believe that virtue is the foundation of strength for every aspect of our society. It is within the healthy family that virtuous principles thrive and are best transferred.
It is our goal to equip you with the resources you need to be intentional about your marriage, parenting, and standing for truth in a way that is loving and inviting.
We must never abandon life giving principles in a world of relativism, a world that is hostile to the idea of absolute right and wrong. We must learn to engage the culture, and be intentional about who we want to be and how we transfer values to our children.
Stand with us as we work towards our mission to advocate for families, life, marriage and freedom. Become a Member of DFPC!
Serving Delaware Families