'My Rules, My Truck': MS GOPer, Reporter Spar Over Access For Female Journo
By Nicole Lafond
July 11, 2019 10:42 am
The Mississippi Republican gubernatorial candidate who blocked a female reporter from doing a ride-along with his campaign — because he was concerned it’d look like he was having an affair — dug his heels in during an interview with CNN Thursday morning.
“My rules, my truck,” Mississippi state Rep. Robert Foster (R) said during the interview, which included the female journalist, Mississippi Today’s Larrison Campbell, who was told by Foster’s campaign that she couldn’t do a ride-along style story with the candidate unless she brought a male colleague with her.
According to Campbell, the ride-along request was meant to be part of a series of stories that Mississippi Today is publishing to give voters an inside look at each of the gubernatorial candidates’ campaigns. Foster argued that the request was “different” than the typical interview and he made the male colleague request as a “precaution” to avoid the “perception” of an affair.
“I didn’t want to end up in a situation where me and Ms. Campbell were alone for an extended period of time throughout that 15 to 16 hour day,” he said. “So out of precaution I wanted to have her bring someone with her, a male colleague. And the other thing that I think is important to point out is this is my truck, and in my truck we go by my rules. And that’s my rule.”
Foster said that he and his wife have a similar rule to what Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence follow. Part of their wedding vows was a promise to never be alone in the same room as someone of the opposite gender. Foster happily admitted that he would’ve granted access to a male reporter and even raised the fact that we live in the #metoo era as fodder for his defense.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/access-female-journalist-mississippi-reporter-goper-cnn
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