Bored Senator Views Porn During Floor Debate

A Florida state lawmaker who is running for a seat in the United States Congress this year was caught viewing pornographic photos on his state-issued computer during a legislative session.

A local news organization captured Mike Bennett, a Republican state senator, looking at a graphic photo of half-naked women on the Florida Senate floor during a debate last week. The embarrassing video has circulated throughout the internet and has been aired by several celebrity gossip television shows.

It features the back of the senator’s balding head as he stares at a laptop computer screen with four giggling women—clad in skimpy bikini bottoms—embracing each other. Their breasts are exposed and there is little doubt that the photo is in any way related to the legislative debate that the senator was elected to participate in.

Bennett defends his actions and claims he simply opened an electronic mail sent to him by a woman who happens to be a former court administrator. Why did he open the crass personal email during a crucial floor discussion related to abortion, his constituents may wonder?

“I was just sitting there, bored as they were debating the abortion bill,” Bennett told the local news agency that broke the story. The lawmaker claims that he was shocked to see the images of the naked women and immediately “clicked away from it.” The senator was also captured viewing videos during the session, including a piece in which a dog runs out of the water and shakes itself off.

A Florida Senate spokesperson offered a rather comical explanation for Bennett’s behavior, pointing out that there was some confusion about an email he received. “He thought it was an email about an item being debated on the Senate floor,” the official spokesperson said. ”As soon as he realized it wasn’t he closed the page.”

A columnist at the news agency that broke this story calls Bennett an arrogant liar who broke the public’s trust. Most thinking Floridians know that, at the very least, his behavior—checking personal, tasteless email during a debate on the Senate floor—was disrespectful and contemptuous.