Former GOP Rep. John Kline would ask women permission to put his arm around them in photos

The Daily Caller News Foundation picked up on an interesting part of an Al Franken accusers testimony to CNN.

The Daily Caller:

An interesting side story about a Republican congressman’s protocol for taking photos emerged from a new sexual misconduct accusation against Sen. Al Franken.

Lindsay Menz, 33, reached out to CNN several hours after news anchor Leeann Tweeden accused Sen. Franken of forcibly kissing her and groping her during a 2006 USO tour. Menz said Franken grabbed her butt during a 2010 photo-op at the Minnesota State Fair, making her feel “gross” and “uncomfortable.”

Interestingly, Menz remembers a photo-op with former Republican congressman John Kline going quite differently.

Menz said that shortly after her photo with Franken, she got ready to take a photo with Kline. As they were preparing to pose for the shot, Kline asked Menz if they should “mutually put our arms around each other.”

Kline, who retired from Congress this year, told CNN he did that “as a matter of practice, all the time.”

“If somebody wanted a picture, I would ask: should I put my arm on your back or your shoulder?” he said, and indicated that he felt particularly inclined to do so when taking photos with women.

Of course, the media will likely fail to report this great story. This is exactly the way every government official should treat the women and men who work with them. No, I don’t think we should go overboard and police everything that happens but if you are doing something that could be taken the wrong way it doesn’t hurt to ask like Rep. Kline did.