Less than two weeks before early ballots hit mailboxes, an anonymous website has revealed that Republican state Rep. Todd Clodfelter has had a profile on a website geared at internet users seeking extramarital affairs.
Clodfelter, a representative from Tucson who was first elected in 2016, is owning up to creating the profile at AshleyMadison.com, saying he’s made some mistakes that he’s working through with his family.
Further, the lawmaker says, his personal sex life is nobodyβs business and has nothing to do with his position as a state lawmaker.
βI do have a personal life, I have made mistakes in the past, no doubt. My wife and I have been married for 41 years now, and weβve had our bumps and bruises, but weβve been working it out and weβre still together, and I do have a family,β he said.
The anonymous site shows that Clodfelter created the profile in 2010, during his first run for the state Legislature. He last updated the site in January 2015, before he was elected to office. The Arizona Daily Star was able to verify much of what the website claims.
Clodfelter’s AshleyMadison.com profile states that he is a “happily married man, but many of my needs are not being met. I need some fun on the side.”
Clodfelter said he created a profile and occasionally messaged with people on the site, but never had an affair with anyone he met there. He since told his wife and the two have gone through marriage counseling to deal with it.
The anonymous site notes that Clodfelter has voted for a resolution stating that βobscenity, pornography, human trafficking and sex trafficking are detrimental to the health, safety and well-being of minors,β that he has voted to require women to state why they are seeking an abortion and has voted against legislation banning people under the age of 16 from getting married.
βHow can he vote on measures to denounce pornography, to regulate child marriage, and to shame women who have extramarital affairs when he solicits sex and other sex acts on the internet from unknown persons in violation of his pledges and vows?β the site states.
But Clodfelter said he has always fought against the government regulating what happens in the bedroom, and his mistakes in his personal life have no bearing in his policy decisions.
βIf youβre gay or LGBT, I donβt care. Thatβs your life. And Iβve been lobbied before to encourage a change in the constitution to identify a marriage as between a male and female. And I wonβt do that, Iβm against that. Thatβs not my position to tell you (marriage) has to be between a man and a woman. Not in our country β thatβs the beauty of America,β he said.
Clodfelter has billed himself as a family man in his campaign website, which states, βMy greatest pride is my family. I have been married to Karla my high school sweetheart for over 37 years; we have three children (all graduates of the TUSD public school system) and two grandchildren.β
He said his indiscretion doesnβt change the fact that he loves his family and is sorry for the pain he caused his wife and children.
He said he didnβt know who set up the anonymous website, but that itβs clearly a political tactic to shame him. But he said heβs not stepping down or suspending his campaign.
βIf this is the only issue they can hang me with, then theyβre not looking at policy. Theyβre just looking for something to shame me and embarrass me and make me step back. But Iβm not much of a step-backer,β he said.
