Deskapade

Photo by Jack GouldI never was much of an OC Weekly reader. As a conservative Republican elected to office, you can hardly blame me. I actually avoided reading the Weekly, just as a June bug avoids a duck pond, a gay trick-or-treater avoids Jerry Falwell's house, or a young blond secretary avoids Ted Kennedy's back seat.

I succeeded in not reading the Weekly for quite some time; that is until the "Gigolo for the GOP" edition made its way to my office in the state Capitol.

In 1996, I served as Speaker of the state Assembly. It is important for me to mention that for those who suffer from short-term memory loss. And for those who snidely question my legislative service, may I point out that I am the third-longest serving Speaker of the Assembly of the past six?

This pivotal edition of the Weekly highlighted a story by a young man who worked in my communications office. It told of his exploits working for various public officials and characters. He reported on his episodes working for political candidates, a probing interview with a local reporter, his travels around the state in the back seat of a limousine, and his final interlude with a couple of Sacramento women on my desktop.

As one can imagine, I was not pleased with reading about this in the pages of the Weekly, and I have seriously questioned from that point forward the authenticity of his story.

But like a brush fire, this article made its way throughout the state Capitol, and I spent many weeks denying that I ever came to work to find my desk disturbed. But I read OC Weekly regularly from that point forward. Even if the deskapade was a tall tale, it made for an entertaining story. And I have found much of the Weekly to be an enjoyable read thereafter.