Michigan lawmaker apologizes for comments to female reporter

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan lawmaker apologized Wednesday a day after telling a young female reporter that a group of high school boys could “have a lot of fun” with her.

State Sen. Peter Lucido, a 59-year-old Republican from Macomb County's Shelby Township, issued a short statement addressing a story in which a Michigan Advance journalist wrote of an incident that occurred outside the Senate chamber Tuesday.

Allison Donahue, 22, asked Lucido for an interview. He said he could talk after honoring roughly 30 students from De La Salle, an all-boys Catholic high school in suburban Detroit from which Lucido graduated.

“You should hang around! You could have a lot of fun with these boys, or they could have a lot of fun with you," he said. The teens laughed, according to Donahue's first-person account in the Advance, a nonprofit news site that covers politics and policy.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding yesterday and for offending Allison Donahue," Lucido said, hours after initially telling the Detroit Free Press that he did not feel he owed the reporter an apology and saying he felt the quotes were taken out of context and had been blown out of proportion.

It was not clear if Lucido could face discipline from Senate leadership.

“I take this very seriously and intend to have a very intense and lengthy conversation with the senator as soon as we're done with session," said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Clarklake Republican. “If those words that were reported are accurate, it's very unacceptable and that's all I've got to say about it."

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