Do republican have room in their closets for their clothes? Or the Laddie Doth Protest too much.

Allen, a Republican from Merritt Island, Fla., who last month got arrested for attempting to solicit oral sex from an undercover police officer in a public restroom. Yes, the police officer was a male, and yes, Allen has a long history of anti-gay legislation. But it was his quick-thinking attempts to explain himself that appear to be hastening his demise.

Recently released police tapes and documents indicate that Allen first attempted to avoid arrest by telling the officers he was a legislator. When that failed, he switched from intimidation to playing the race card with an excuse that would make even Wally Terzinsky cringe. In his statement Allen explained that Danny Kavanaugh, the Titusville police officer from whom he allegedly solicited sex, was a "pretty stocky black guy." And because "there was nothing but other black guys around in the park," he became intimidated and did whatever he could to survive.

We've all been there, made so nervous by our racially diverse surroundings that we offer up 20 bucks to perform fellatio on the nearest person in a public bathroom.
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as Kavanaugh tells it, Allen repeatedly approached him. Either way, the seven-year representative has been charged him with solicitation of prostitution and forced to resign as co-chairman of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Florida. He can also be added to the ever-growing number of pro-family conservatives embroiled in homosexual scandals. Allen remains innocent until proven guilty, of course, but as we all know, the court of public opinion makes no such allowances. Especially in a case as rich with irony as this: Not only was Allen's voting record staunchly anti-gay, he also sponsored a bill last session to strengthen Florida's laws against public sex, lewdness and indecency. In addition, the Tampa police union saw fit to crown him the 2007 Lawmaker of the Year.

Shout Outs From Voting Privatization or How the Right Wing Fixes Elections

Between 40 and 50 people showed up at the board meeting to protest the county's recent decisions to hire Deborah Seiler and Michael Vu as the county's top two elections officials, registrar and assistant registrar of voters.

The protests also included sharp criticisms of electronic voting in general, and devolved into shouts from audience members, rebukes from supervisors, and a declaration from county Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard that Seiler, Vu and electronic voting were here to stay.

Seiler, who most recently served as the assistant registrar of voters in Solano County, also worked as a sales representative with Ohio-based Diebold Elections Systems, and was directly involved in the company's sale of 10,200 "touch screen" election machines to San Diego County.

Protesters said Seiler had a conflict of interest because as a Diebold employee, she benefited financially from the sale of the machines to the county, and because she, as a former Diebold employee, supported a system that could rig elections.

Vu, meanwhile, resigned in February as executive director of Ohio's Cuyahoga County election board, where two elections workers were convicted of rigging a 2004 presidential election recount.