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Pritt Fooled Us · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Certainly by now you've heard of Delegate Elliot Print, even
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: if you'd never heard of him before Wednesday? Has he
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: ever appeared on talk line at least since Hopi Kershevell retired.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I honestly don't remember. I'm not sure I've ever exchanged
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a word with him. But legislators become known over time.
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  Speaker 1: It's not difficult to know someone who knows someone, and
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  Speaker 1: word travels about people's reputations, especially during session. Frankly, if
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  Speaker 1: all one hundred and thirty four legislators were lined up,
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  Speaker 1: Print probably wouldn't have been the one most people would
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: have picked as the person now facing these allegations. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he's innocent until proven guilty, but the allegations and evidence
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  Speaker 1: made public are deeply troubling, disgusting, and downright damning. The
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: lesson is obvious. We never really know most people. At best,
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  Speaker 1: we have acquaintances. Friends are different. Psychological research suggests humans
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: and maintain roughly one hundred and fifty social relationships at
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  Speaker 1: any given time. Relationships is a broad term people you recognize,
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  Speaker 1: greet and passing, or interact with from time to time.
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  Speaker 1: The inner circle is much smaller, about five people. Those
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  Speaker 1: are the close confidants, the people you call in a crisis,
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  Speaker 1: the people you truly call friends. That number is remarkably limited.
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  Speaker 1: So as shocking as this case may seem, it's not
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  Speaker 1: surprising that many people didn't really know Elliot Print. It's
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  Speaker 1: also a sobering reminder that appearances can be deceiving. While
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  Speaker 1: most people appear good and hopefully are, it's impossible to
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  Speaker 1: know with certainty what lies beneath the surface. Print remains
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  Speaker 1: incarcerated in a Kentucky jail, his teaching certificate now suspended
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  Speaker 1: pending the outcome of trial, while calls continue for his
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  Speaker 1: resignation from the House of Delegates. Whether he even knows
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: those calls are being made is unknown. Having watched similar
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  Speaker 1: situations unfold over the years, there's sometimes a strategic calculation.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: An elected official delays resigning in hopes of gaining leverage
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  Speaker 1: during plea negotiations. There's no indication Print is doing that here,
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  Speaker 1: but if he is, it would be a mistake. He
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  Speaker 1: should resign the moment he learns of those calls and
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  Speaker 1: someone is willing to hand him a pencil and a
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  Speaker 1: piece of paper plus postage. If he had any remaining
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  Speaker 1: sense of responsibility to the people he represents, he would
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  Speaker 1: have already done so without anyone asking. Print fooled a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people, be included. I watched him stand passionately
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  Speaker 1: on the House floor during the closing night of the
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  Speaker 1: legislative session, exhausting every parliamentary maneuver available to pass Rayleigh's Law,
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  Speaker 1: a worthwhile bill designed to protect children from abuse. If
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  Speaker 1: the allegations are true, he did so while allegedly having
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  Speaker 1: committed crimes against a child himself. If proven, that would
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  Speaker 1: represent an extraordinary act of deception and hypocrisy, and act
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  Speaker 1: perpetrated with tears and his head in his hands, appearing
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  Speaker 1: stunned at the bill's failure to move. My heart breaks
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  Speaker 1: for the young woman Print is accused of victimizing. One
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  Speaker 1: can only imagine the pain she and her family endure
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  Speaker 1: each day. We can only hope she is surrounded by
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  Speaker 1: people who love her and will help her heal. There's
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  Speaker 1: also sorrow for Print's wife and children. Whatever the outcome
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  Speaker 1: of the criminal case, they too are in during consequences
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  Speaker 1: they didn't choose. They're victims in their own way, seemingly
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  Speaker 1: now a widow and orphans, they deserve compassion as they
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  Speaker 1: attempt to build a new normal. As for Print, he
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  Speaker 1: deserves a harsh and hard sentence if his peers find
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  Speaker 1: him guilty. Finally, for those who would use this case
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  Speaker 1: to argue that Rayleigh's law is somehow flawed or inappropriate,
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  Speaker 1: and that sentiment is already appearing across social media, I'd
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  Speaker 1: caution against that conclusion. Rayley's law should stand or fall
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  Speaker 1: on its own merits. The allegations against one of its advocates,
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  Speaker 1: and any deception or hypocrisy that may ultimately be proven,
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  Speaker 1: should not be used to discredit the legislation itself. That
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  Speaker 1: justice of fair or worthy of debate,