To be fair...no, we don't know that he persisted or discussed the mechanics. We don't know anything other than he admits to discussing surrogacy.

That's the problem with "guilty by allegation" these days.

NB: I'm totally not defending this guy...just due process.

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My training

If we can't agree on "You must know that just discussing *the topic* of surrogacy would never be the cause of a sitting Congresscritter's resignation.", then there's no point in talking about this. It's pretty obvious that there's more there, there.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

He quit effective now...wife went to hospital today.

Are those things related?

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"Go yell at an M&M"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/...m_term=.0dfb3c6ab1ad


Franks had said Thursday that he would resign at the end of January but said Friday that his wife’s ailment had prompted him to change his plans and immediately step down.

“Last night, my wife was admitted to the hospital in Washington, D.C. due to an ongoing ailment,” he said in a statement. “After discussing options with my family, we came to the conclusion that the best thing for our family now would be for me to tender my previous resignation effective today, December 8th, 2017.”

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Even if as I speculated above he was just looking for a reason to quit, seems like a strange reason to use as the out. I can't imagine any one in their right mind would say simply talking about surrogacy is offensive to anyone in any way, shape or form. If it were the problem is with the offended person and 99.99% would agree.

I saw an article stating that he offered to pay a staffer $5M to be a surrogate. Article said he asked her multiple times.

IMO - this isn't something to resign over, though it is inappropriate.

I agree, it's also quite a bit more substantial than just talking about surrogacy.

Not to mention 5 million dollars? Pretty sure the going rate is a hell of lot cheaper than that.

Yep. Just like talking about pregnancy isn't the same thing as talking about impregnating a subordinate for $5MM.

Some things you just don't do.

Also, five million to rent a uterus? Remind me to get a job in Congress. Pays better than I thought.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Not for nothing, but didn't a couple of co-workers as you to be a sperm donor?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

They did. She resigned immediately after I complained.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Kidding, obviously. Yes, that happened. I took yours and others' advice and politely declined.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Not sure where you’re going with this, but I’ll play.

I’m assuming you mean pumping since I don’t think bringing a kid into work is going to really a viable option unless daycare is on site. Then allowed to is irrelevant it is a necessity you can’t sit all day without pumping. As long as they aren’t camping out napping all day no I don’t have a problem with it.

My wife and the girl I sit next too both had babies within 6 months of each other. So I’ve had conversations with her about it since everything happened to my wife a few months earlier. That said I also wouldn’t ever think about going into my directors office and taking about my wife breast feeding with her. They are two completely different situations. Even with talking to the girl next to me if I hadn’t sat by her for 2 years and knew her well I wouldn’t have unless she specifically said something.

Although both things. Breast feeding and suragacy are both things I have no problem with it doesn’t negate the sensitivity of those subjects to some people and aren’t something I would consider work appropriate to discuss in most situations. I normally don’t determine what I think is appropriate to discuss at work based on my feelings but on how the subject could be viewed by others.

We know this kooky woman in town who kept talking about doing it but never did. Her sell by date is probably fast approaching now.

Anyway I just looked it up and the company I hit on pays about $40k plus some expenses and "bonuses" for various things.

Which honestly doesn't seem like a whole lot given the toll it takes on a woman's body and potential for serious health consequences.

I still think there's more to the story. The reaction doesn't seem to line up with the reported behavior:


The former staffer said the congressman at least four times asked if she'd be willing to act as a surrogate in exchange for money. Franks, in his statement announcing his resignation, said he and his wife, who have struggled with infertility, have twins who were carried through surrogacy.

The former aide said the conversations took place in private, sometimes in the congressman's car, and that she repeatedly told him she wasn't interested. She said she never filed a formal complaint because until recently she didn't know where to go, but that his behavior had made her feel uncomfortable.
<>
Andrea Lafferty, President of Traditional Values Coalition, said she is the one who reported Franks' conduct to the speaker's office. Lafferty told AP that the former aide came to her about a year ago and told her about the surrogacy requests. Lafferty said she contacted Ryan's office last month, after the staffer agreed to discuss the incident with leadership.

"I was approached last year about the situation, she came to me wanting some advice about how to handle this. She came to me shaking and sobbing, and she shared a story that I think is horrific, a powerful man hiring young women, procuring staff, to potentially surrogate children for him," Lafferty said. "I accompanied (the former aide) to the meeting in the speaker's office where she said Congressman Trent Franks offered her $5 million if she conceived him a child."

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

How does surrogacy work? I was assuming an embryo is created from the wannabe parents if possible or donors and implanted?

This makes it sound like he was saying go out there and get pregnant and we'll take the kid or he would get her pregnant?

Could be either, maybe?

Traditional surrogacy
Traditional surrogacy (also known as partial, genetic, or straight surrogacy[3]) involves natural[4] or artificial insemination of a surrogate. If the intended father's sperm is used in the insemination, then the resulting child is genetically related to the intended father and genetically related to the surrogate. If donor sperm is used, the resulting child is not genetically related to either intended parent but is genetically related to the surrogate.

In some cases, an insemination may be performed privately by the parties without the intervention of a doctor or physician. In some jurisdictions, the 'commissioning parents' using donor sperms need to go through an adoption process in order to have legal rights in respect to the resulting child. Many fertility centers which provide for surrogacy assist the parties through the process.
Gestational surrogacy
Gestational surrogacy (also known as host or full surrogacy[3]) was first achieved in April 1986.[5] It takes place when an embryo created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology is implanted in a surrogate, sometimes called a gestational carrier. Gestational surrogacy may take a number of forms, but in each form the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate:

• the embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and the intended mother's eggs. The resulting child is genetically related to both intended parents.
• the embryo is created using the intended father's sperm and a donor egg where the donor is not the surrogate. The resulting child is genetically related to the intended father.
• the embryo is created using the intended mother's egg and donor sperm. The resulting child is genetically related to the intended mother.
• a donor embryo is implanted in a surrogate. Such an embryo may be available when others undergoing IVF have embryos left over, which they donate to others. The resulting child is genetically unrelated to the intended parent(s).

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

People do things -- when the desire to have children overtakes them -- that range from slightly kooky or inappropriate to flat-out psychotic and murderous. There are a couple of cases the last several years in which women who wanted a baby killed pregnant women who were very near to term and then took their babies from them and tried to pass them off as their own.

If this is all that Franks did, I'm not understanding why he felt he needed to resign. Inappropriate? Yes, especially if the woman staffer you're asking feels like she's being pressured or if there's an implication that her job is on the line (or even if she just believes that, absent any message of such from Franks or his people). He was their boss, ultimately. Not a smart move on his part.

But did this rise to the level of seriousness where he should have resigned? I honestly don't know. I don't really like some aspects of the guy's politics (he's too far right for my libertarian sentiments), but that doesn't mean I place him in the same league as John Conyers or the other founding members of the Groperdammerung Club.

Again: there has to be more there, there (as a couple of other commentators on this thread have already noted).

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

The shaking and sobbing part seem to indicate more. If he just asked it seems like it wouldn’t be that emotional of a thing and you’d just report that he’s being a creep and asking this stuff to his staffers.

How is this complicated? He clearly repeatedly asked to fuck her. It's god's way of inseminating.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)