Board tosses complaint about legislator's "abuse"

OLYMPIA — Weeks after an angry parent complained that state Rep. John Ahern "verbally abused" teens lobbying on behalf of Planned Parenthood, a state ethics board has dismissed the complaint.

The Legislative Ethics Board concluded it lacked jurisdiction over a conversation among the students, an adult chaperone and Ahern, R-Spokane.

The ruling means that "the legislator is entitled to his opinion and that there's no ethical provision which addresses language which some people think to be offensive," said board attorney Mike O'Connell. He released the ruling this week.

The complaint was filed by one of the students' parents, Wesley Wilhelm, of Spokane.

On Jan. 21, seven youths from Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest's teen advisory board met with Ahern in his office in Olympia. They were promoting family planning and more funding for sex education.

"It's the first time in eight years they've decided to come visit me, so I decided I'd have some good questions for them," Ahern said Wednesday. (Planned Parenthood disputes this, saying it has visited his office five times in five years.)

It turned out to be mainly just one question, asked over and over. As Ahern recalls it, he said: "By the way, I need to find out how many unborn babies were killed by Planned Parenthood."

Ahern says he asked the students that a couple of times, then asked their chaperone twice, then again asked the teens a couple of times.

"I was just trying to give them a lesson on pro-life issues," he said. He said Wednesday that he thinks Planned Parenthood is "trying to refurbish their image by bringing teenagers into their fold."

When one girl said at the meeting that she should have control over her body, Ahern said, he asked whether an unborn child should have a say, too.

"That stymied them," Ahern said.

Lena Kassa, a community health educator for the group, was with the teens. Ahern flatly refused to listen to what they came to talk about, she said.

"I specifically remember him turning to one member and saying, 'How many babies did you kill this year?' " she said. "They were definitely offended."

In a Feb. 10 letter to House Republican leader Richard DeBolt, Wilhelm called the "persistent, off-topic and threatening" questioning "abusive" and asked that Ahern be investigated and punished for a "complete lack of human decency." The students were not there lobbying about abortion, he said.

"Such abuse of anyone, regardless of their political positions, is reprehensible," Wilhelm wrote.

He also called for a written apology to the students, all lawmakers, and to the more than 130,000 residents of Ahern's legislative district.

Civic-minded teens who visit their lawmakers shouldn't be berated, he said. And Ahern's behavior, he said, belies the statement "Washington State Legislature welcomes kids of all ages" that is trumpeted on the legislative Web page.

"It was just above and beyond anything a child should have to go through when they visit a state legislator," Wilhelm said Wednesday.

He said he was disappointed in the ethics board's decision but holds out hope that DeBolt or the House clerk will take up the matter. Ahern said he's heard nothing from either of them.

Michele Smith, a legislative staff member for Ahern who sits a few feet outside his office, said neither side raised their voices and the conversation didn't seem confrontational.

Ahern said he was surprised to get a thank-you note signed by the teens and by Jet Tilley, the group's director of public policy.

"Obviously, a parent's trying to make a mountain out of a molehill," Ahern said of Wilhelm's complaint.

Wilhelm's response: The teens showed Ahern more respect than he showed them.

Ahern said he's sure the incident will come up during his re-election campaign this year. The 6th Legislative District, a crescent encompassing western Spokane and outlying areas, has become a battleground recently, with Democrats in 2006 winning two of the district's three long-held Republican legislative seats. Ahern said he's not worried.

"Was it Harry Truman who said, 'If you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen'? " he said.