Disgraced ex-state Rep. David Stringer’s (R-AZ) history of disturbing comments on child sex trafficking have come to light as part of the state House Ethics Committee’s investigation into his expunged criminal record which included charges related to his alleged rape of underage children in the 1980s.
According to documents obtained by the Arizona Republic, Stringer told an activist in 2018 that he doesn’t believe sex trafficking does “damage” to the children and that he doesn’t “like to demonize it.”
“If an uncle takes his niece or nephew to a playground, and they go on the merry-go-round and have some ice cream, and then do their thing, that’s just part of the experience,” he added.
Around the same time, he made alarming comments to a school administrator in the context of an internship where he worked with children learning to speak English.
“I like being a daddy figure for the little girls when they sit on my lap,” he reportedly said.
Stringer’s expunged criminal history leaked to the Phoenix New Times a couple of weeks ago, finally forcing him to resign.
Even before the old charges surfaced, Stringer had made a name for himself by making racist statements in public, in the vein of “there aren’t enough white kids to go around” the Arizona school system. Read my deep dive into Stringer’s downfall here.
