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GOP Lawmaker Charged with Battery

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Kansas state Rep. Mark Samsel (R) “is facing criminal charges for the alleged battery of two 16-year-olds last month, when a bizarre day of his substitute teaching was caught on video by high school students,” the Kansas City Star reports.

In one video, Samsel gave students permission to kick a fellow classmate “in the balls.”

In another video, Samsel is recorded telling students off camera, “make babies. Who likes making babies? That feels good, doesn’t it? Procreate… You haven’t masturbated? Don’t answer that question… God already knows.”

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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