Mott Oxford No Longer Too Offensive To Serve on Children & Families Committee

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford has accepted an appointment on the Children and Families Committee for the 2010 legislative session.

Last year, Mott Oxford was prohibited from serving on the committee by Speaker Ron Richard because, in the word's of Richard's Chief of Staff Jeff Brooks, some GOP House members found her "highly offensive." But  Richard and GOP leaders would never really explain what they found so "offensive" about her.  From a February 2009 story in the Star:

In the weeks since, Oxford says she has not received a convincing explanation for why she was left off the committee.

“The only reason cited to me so far as for why I am not on the committee is that ‘some members find me offensive,’” Oxford wrote in a letter last month to Richard. “I do not know if this is about my sexual orientation, my stance on Roe vs. Wade, or what.” [...]

[Oxford] has served on committees concerning children and families since entering the legislature in 2005, and has years of professional and volunteer experience in children’s and poverty issues. If appointed, she would have been the committee’s ranking Democrat.

“I don’t know what the reason is,” Oxford said in an interview. “Whatever it is, what bothers me is that I’m so eminently qualified to be on this committee and I’m being barred from it for some reason.”

Concerns over whether Oxford’s sexual orientation derailed her appointment arose Jan. 15 when Richard’s chief of staff delivered the committee assignments to staffers for House Minority Leader Paul LeVota.

According to Democratic staffers who were present, the chief of staff — Jeff Brooks — said Oxford was removed because members of the Republican caucus found her “highly offensive.” Brooks reportedly did not elaborate on what that meant.

Whatever the reason for the change of heart by Richard and other House GOP leaders, I'm glad Jeanette Mott Oxford is back on the committee.