Check out these colorful quotes from the Capitol as lawmakers wrangle bills and mangle metaphors. Dustin Barnes/Clarion Ledger
UPDATED: With comments from Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi saying it has never been a client of Levanway's firm.
A Harrison County supervisor is speaking out after she says one of the state's top lobbyists directed a vulgar expression at her before a legislative reception in Jackson.
District 1 Supervisor Beverly Martin said she was trying to introduce new Harrison County supervisors Angel Kibler-Middleton and Kent Jones to lobbyist Scott Levanway when the incident occurred.
Martin said she had just gotten the words out, "Scott, I want to introduce you to..." when he interrupted and said, "Suck my d---."
"I'm like what???????" she posted on her Facebook page.
"I was just telling Supervisor Jones, 'You need to meet Scott Levanway. He's a good lobbyist, and we've worked together in the past.' So you can imagine how I felt when he said that," Martin said in an interview with the Clarion Ledger Sunday. "And I said, 'Scott, tell this man what you just said to me.'"
Levanway then allegedly softened the proposition, telling Jones he had told Martin, "I want a b--- job."
"This is how our state treats women!" Martin posted on her Facebook page. "What the Hell?
Levanway late on Sunday released a statement calling his remarks a joke and "ill-advised and totally unacceptable," saying he and Martin are "old friends and we had not seen each other in some time."
"I made an ill-advised and totally unacceptable comment that was intended as a joke," Levanway said. "My judgment was poor and I sincerely apologize for my offensive behavior. I take total responsibility for the distress I caused to Beverly by my words.
"This was totally out of character for me, it does not reflect my respect for Beverly nor my appreciation for our long friendship. I hope that she can forgive me. My parents taught me that a good man takes responsibility for his mistakes and then makes them right. While I cannot erase the offense, I am taking full responsibility. And while I cannot make it right, and will not attempt to justify it, I will learn from it. And I will redouble my life-long commitment to respecting women and behaving in a way that reflects my true values."
The conversation happened Tuesday night before the Gulf Coast Legislative Reception, Martin said.
"I just stood there and said, 'I can’t believe you did that,' and Kent was just standing there with his hands in his pockets,'" Martin said. "I knew him, that's what's crazy, and I respected him. My respect level for him just bottomed out."
Martin's husband, Bernie Burkholder, called Levanway on Saturday night, she said, and Levanway played the conversation off as a joke.
"Bernie felt like it was an affront to him as well," she said. "He wouldn’t have said that with Bernie standing there. And he sure wouldn’t have admitted it again."
Martin said she's dealt with a "good ol' boy" system mentality dating back to her days as a lobbyist. But it's time for that to have passed, she said, especially since the Harrison County Board of Supervisors is the first and only board in the state with a female majority.
"I don’t know if that was said to remind me of my place, if that’s where he thinks my place would be," she said. "And if he was just going for shock factor, that definitely worked. I was speechless, and anyone will tell you that doesn't happen very often."
Martin said she's gone back and forth about how she should handle the incident and how she should have handled it that night.
"I was kinda kicking myself that I didn’t just slap him right there. You think of what you should have done or what you could have said, but I was truly speechless, I was shocked," she said. "That was just uncalled for, tacky, just nasty."
Martin said making the exchange public is about a bigger issue at play.
"This is not done out of malice. I had a high respect for this man. But there’s this whole little group that feels like they can do and say whatever they want to women and minorities," she said. "I ran for this job because I wanted to bring integrity and transparency and trust to the voters, but I didn’t run to put up with this, and I don't think my voters would want me to."
Both Martin and Levanway have worked around Coast tourism and gaming for many years.
Levanway worked as a staff attorney for the state House in the late 1970s. He has been a lobbyist since 1981 and has represented many business and government entities, including casinos.
Levanway has been a key player in creating the state's casino gambling and tourism laws since gambling was legalized in the 1990s.
Along with the city of Gulfport, Levanway clients have included the cities of Biloxi, Jackson and Madison; the Gulf Coast Business Council, state Port of Gulfport, Silver Slipper casino, Pinnacle Entertainment and the Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi, according to the firm's website list of "represenative (sic) clients."
But Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi CEO Becky Traweek said the council has never been a client of Levanway's. The group is not among Levanway's list of clients on file with the Secrtary of State's office from current to at least 2016.
"We do not appreciate Mr. Levanway using our brand to boost his image after speaking in a vile manner to an elected official who happens to be a woman," Traweek said in a statement. "Sexual harassment and overall unequal treatment of women is never acceptable."