Pa. House leaders call for lawmaker to resign over videos
Facing calls from his own caucus to resign after videos surfaced of him encouraging his 5-year-old son to puff a cigar and use explicit language, State Rep. Aaron Bernstine apologized Thursday for “jokes that went way too far” and said he has to be a better role model for his child.
But the Republican representative — who represents a district that spans parts of Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties — signaled that he’ll leave it up to voters to decide on Nov. 3 if he keeps his job or not.
Calls for his resignation — starting with the leadership of the GOP caucus, then reiterated by Democrats — came after the Beaver County Times published videos Wednesday from the Republican representative’s Snapchat account, including one in which he offers his son a cigar, then tells him to “hit it harder” and “breathe in” once the young boy takes a puff.
In another video reported by The Times, Mr. Bernstine, off camera, asks his son, “What are we going to chase in Nashville?” The boy answers, “Cadillac ...” using a profane term for vagina after the word Cadillac. In a third video, he tries to get another unidentified older boy to play “[Expletive], Marry, Kill,” a game in which one person presents the names of three men or women and asks another person to designate one term for each.
Mr. Bernstine, in a video posted to his official Twitter account on Thursday, said he is “truly sorry” for the Snapchat videos — which he said depicted jokes captured on a “private vacation with my son and his friends and several of their parents.” The legislator said he has “to do a much better job as a role model for my child.”
“I’ll continue to work on that, and me and my family are addressing it as a private matter,” Mr. Bernstine said.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2020/10/08/House-leaders-call-for-lawmaker-to-resign-over-videos-rep-aaron-bernstine-snapchat/stories/202010080150
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