Pocan Calls For Video of Van Orden’s Profanity Laced Tirade

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan is calling for the release of security footage of an incident last week in which Republican 3rd District Congressman Derrick Van Orden of Prairie du Chien allegedly cursed at high school-aged Capitol pages. In a letter Tuesday to fellow Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville, the chair of the House Committee on Administration, Pocan called for security video of the incident to be released immediately “to ensure greater transparency into this incident.” A group of high school age Senate pages were in the Rotunda Wedneday evening to take pictures during their last week at the Capitol, and while there, some of the teenagers positioned themselves and their camera on the floor in order to capture a photo of the interior of the historic Capitol dome. Congressman Van Orden came across the Senate pages and launched into a profanity laced tirade against them. Pocan called Van Orden’s behavior “completely unacceptable,” adding it further calls into question his fitness for office.  In an interview following the incident, Van Orden did not dispute early descriptions of it and refused to apologize. He said he was protecting the integrity of the Capitol Rotunda.