Gallows humor, by Rep. Tony Cornish

Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, made a few waves this past week at the Legislature when he sent around an e-mail to Republicans and Democrats that attempted to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

Unfortunately, some people did not think it was funny.

Cornish, as chairman of the House Public Safety Committee, sent around an e-mail with the words "I have a crime bill at my desk," and included a picture of a historic gallows from his last trip to Tombstone, Ariz.

Some DFLers were insulted and they brought up the incident to Republican Speaker Kurt Zellers who apparently was unaware of it or hadn't seen it yet, though Cornish said he sent it to members of both parties.

Some left leaning blogs stopped short of excoriating him, but chided him nonetheless for his taste etc.

In fairness, I asked him to explain the incident a bit.

Here's his e-mail verbatim.

" Well, for years we've been sending pictures back and forth on each side, some very funny and giving each other a hard time. It's always been fun and in jest. We send studies, Internet jokes and the like in past years.

 "This year, I had gone to Tombstone Arizona and taken pictures of "Boot Hill" the famous cemetery and of a "gallows" in the Museum Courtyard that was a replica of the gallows used there in the 1800s. It is a museum display that is visited by thousands of people each year with an appropriate plaque.

"So, I was sitting there and had the Tombstone Pics on my desktop. I attached one to an email to all GOP and all GOP staff. Then I sent one to all DFL. All it said was, "I have a Crime Bill at my Desk" and the actual color pic of the museum gallows was attached.

"I received no negative comments whatsoever in person or on email. Then all of a sudden the minority leader jumps up and asks the speaker why I sent a picture of an empty gallows on the email. The speaker did not know what he was talking about and went on to the next question of the day. Since then, I have not received one complaint or comment from anyone.

"Personally, I think we should have taken a recess so that the minority leader could have run down to Walmart and bought himself a sense of humor. Everyone is always talking about taking it easy and getting along, so it seemed ridiculous for him to have this reaction to a simple joke."

Well, I can appreciate the explanation. Rep. Cornish might want to check out the crowds before he goes for any stand-up comedy gig.