Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill took to Facebook today to disclose some of the 50 lovers he’s had over the past half-century.

By Marty SchladenThe Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O’Neill took to Facebook today to disclose some of the 50 lovers he’s had over the past half-century.

O’Neill, a Democratic candidate for governor, said he did it to defuse what he sees as a media hysteria over sexual harassment allegations against U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who now a U.S. Senate candidate and others.

“I’m a candidate for governor and I assume I’m the next target,” O’Neill said in a phone interview.

In his Facebook post, O’Neill said, “Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males.”

Saying he wanted to save his opponents research time, he went on to write, “In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females. It ranged from a gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (Senior) who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn in Gallipolis and ended with a drop dead gorgeous red head who was a senior advisor to Peter Lewis at Progressive Insurance in Cleveland.”

O’Neill said that instead of accusing Franken publicly, Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden should have confronted Franken personally about a decade-old incident in which Franken allegedly kissed her and then posed for a picture in which he appeared to be fondling her.

“He has accepted responsibility,” O’Neill said of Franken, adding that he thinks it’s outrageous that fellow Democrats would call for Franken’s resignation.

O’Neill also criticized the Washington Post’s coverage of allegations that Moore pursued and sexually assaulted teenagers 40 years ago.

“He’s in the middle of a Senate campaign,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill didn’t defend Moore, a Republican. But he refused to say whether he believed the Washington Post should have pursued the story.

O’Neill said that the focus on candidates’ sexual predilections distracts from bigger issues.

“It trivializes the process,” he said.

O’Neill was asked if it was decent to publicly disclose who has been intimate with, he said, “We’re done,” and hung up.