The chairman of the state's Republican Party has called for State Rep. Ernest Hewett of New London to step down following a remark he made to a 17-year-old girl last week.
According to the Hartford Courant, GOP chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. criticized House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey's decision to strip Hewett of his deputy speaker title in response to the incident as a "slap on the wrist." Labriola said the Connecticut General Assembly has the ability to inflict a harsher punishment on Hewett, such as an official censure calling on him to resign, and that Hewett would "save the legislature some valuable time" by stepping down.
"Representative Hewett’s offensive remark was a disgrace and an embarrassment," Labriola said. "The fact that it was made to a 17 year-old intern visiting the State Capitol to attend a public hearing sends an absolutely atrocious message."
Hewett has apologized to the 17-year-old girl for the remark he made to her during a public hearing of the Appropriations Committee.
According to the Hartford Courant, Hewett made the apology through Connecticut Science Center CEO Matt Fleury. Fleury said he, the girl, and her parents were attending the hearing and that none of them heard Hewett's remark clearly. He said he was unaware that the remark could be interpreted as an offensive one until the appearance of later news accounts.
"Tonight I called Representative Hewett, who emphatically apologized. We believe him to be sincere," Fleury said in a statement. "We have passed his apology on to the student, and she has accepted it. We are honoring her desire to maintain her privacy."
The girl spoke at the Appropriations Committee's public hearing on Feb. 20 to advocate for funding for the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, which would lose $630,000 under Gov. Dannel Malloy's budget.
A video recording of the hearing was unavailable on the Connecticut Network website. According to an audio recording posted on The Day, the girl spoke about her work with the center including how it had made her overcome her fear of snakes. During comments at the end of the girl's testimony, Hewett commented, "And if you're bashful, I've got a snake sitting under my desk here."
Hewett said he meant to make a humorous comment and later realized that the remark could be misconstrued. House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey stripped Hewett of his deputy speaker role, which he received in January, upon hearing the recording.
