After a controversial Facebook post Friday mentioning sexual liaisons with 50 women, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill has taken down that post and apologized for what he wrote. But Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports he says he won’t resign, though some have said he should.
O’Neill said he’s concerned about the calls for Sen. Al Franken to resign after apologizing for forcibly kissing and groping a woman in 2006, but said he knew he’d have to say something outrageous to get attention.
“That was the point I was trying to raise, but I apparently did not do it very well at all," O'Neill said.
Critics said O’Neill’s initial post with details about sexual relationships trivialized sexual harassment.
“I think the reaction certainly trivialized it, but that was never my intention," he said.
O'Neill said thousands of angry comments, including from his two daughters and two sisters, made him see things differently.
“That’s why I’ve taken the post down and issued what I hope to be accepted as a heartfelt apology.”
O’Neill says Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor also shared her disappointment, and he says he’ll start working on that relationship right away.
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