The facts are these: Robert Watson, the minority leader of our Rhode Island House, who is a Republican from East Greenwich, got stopped at a police checkpoint on Friday, April 22, 2011 and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was also charged with driving under the influence, which he vehemently denies. His blood alcohol level was not at the legal limit.
Fact number two: back in February 2011, Watson gave a speech to the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce where he said that the lawmakers there in Rhode Island only had their priorities right “if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana.”
Now, Watson says that he was making a joke – using humor, because he wanted the lawmakers to deal with the economic issues at hand, and not keep dealing with all of the social issues. He felt that certain issues were dominating the legislative agenda at the expense of others.
If you’ve never read through the laws and such that are proposed at the local and state level, let alone the national level, then you might not be aware of the fact that many bills get proposed, but due to time and politics, only some of them actually make it to the floor to get discussed and voted on. Many die in committee or even on the floor. So Watson wanted to accomplish something in the economic area, while others were concerned about other matters.
Not everyone liked his comments. The Guatemalan community asked for an apology. Watson couldn’t see that he had said anything offensive about them. He only indicated that immigration and gay/lesbian concerns and gambling and marijuana were getting more attention than other important areas.
And some folks now see him as quite the hypocrite. Was he really all concerned about the economy, or did he just want to keep everyone away from possibly making stronger anti-marijuana laws so that he wouldn’t have anything to worry about?
Only Watson knows for sure.
On the other hand, some of Watson’s supporters are saying that some are making a big deal out of this to deflect attention away from the budget and other important matters. They support him, politically, and will wait and see what happens at the sentencing on May 11, 2011.
