[Newspaper clippings: Williams joke likens bad weather to rape] Part: 3 of 4
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Williams
apologizes
for remark
Continued from Page IA.
kicked in the testicles if you're not
careful. It's a different world."
Mr. Williams also told reporters
at his ranch in West Texas: "You're
here in the cow camp. There's barn-
yard language, and you came to the
barn."
Mr. Williams and his wife,
Modesta, both said they thought it
was unfair for reporters to quiz the
candidate on the rape remark, be-
cause it was intended as a joke.
"I don't consider it reflective of
any opinion," said Mr. Williams,
who is making his first run for pub-
lic office. "You can write it serious
if you want to; I don't."
And Mrs. Williams said, "He's
about as much a gentleman and as
caring a person there is."
"If we've offended anyone, we're
sorry," she said.
The comments come just days af-
ter Mr. Williams said in Washing-
ton that he would feel uncomfort-
able facing state Treasurer Ann
Richards in the race for governor
- if she won the Democratic runoff
- because she is a woman.
Mr. Williams, saying that he
hails from "the male world," pre-
dicted that he would be more cau-
tious running against a woman
than a man.
Both Democratic gubernatorial
candidates on Saturday denounced
Mr. Williams' remarks on rape.
Ms. Richards said, "The sad part
of it is that level of ignorance - not
understanding that rape is a crime
of violence."
"Until we have an intolerance of
violence, we will not be able to
solve crime problems in Texas," she
said.
Attorney General Jim Mattox,
the other Democrat in the runoff
April 10, said: "If Clayton Williams
had ever worked with victims of vi-
olent crime as I have, he would
know his remarks are totally unac-
ceptable. I'm sorry he said it. I hope
he doesn't mean it."
At -Alpine, Mr. Williams dis-
missed questions about a political
backlash, saying again that he had
only been joking.
Marilyn Rickman of Austin, head
of the Texas Women's Political
Caucus - which has endorsed Ms.
Richards for governor - called the
remark "totally insensitive in every
sense."
"I think Mr. Williams may not be
in touch with the issues that
women in Texas perceive as import-
ant to them," Ms. Rickman said.
Joyce Gersh, head the Houston
chapter of the National Organiza-
tion for Women, said Mr. Williams'
remark indicates that he knows lit-
tle about the crime of rape.
But Virginia Steenson of Rich-
ardson, a member of the State Re-
publican Executive Committee, re-
jected the complaints, saying, "It's
an old joke which we've heard a
million times."
"He certainly couldn't have
meant that seriously," she said. "It
could possibly be offensive to somevoters, but people seem to love him
no matter what he does."
Beverly Kaufman of Houston,
first vice president of the Texas
Federation of Republican Women,
said it appeared that Mr. Williams
made the comment in jest. "I'm sure
no offense was intended by it, and
I'm not offended by it," she said.
Mrs. Kaufman, a longtime politi-
cal volunteer, said, "I don't hold
anyone's feet that close to the fire."
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The Dallas Morning News. [Newspaper clippings: Williams joke likens bad weather to rape], clipping, 1990; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc915993/m1/3/: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.