Politics is Torture

The thought of Internet filter champion Pete Constant with a ball-gag in his mouth being whipped by a dominatrix might be a fantasy for free speech advocates. Fantasy turned to reality Monday night as actress Krista Kelly strapped on bondage gear and flagellated the conservative councilman in front of San Jose’s political elite at San Jose Stage’s Monday Night Live production. Kelly, a District 6 resident, seemed to enjoy whipping Pete a little too much. “Even Sally Leiber can’t save you now,” she screamed. Kelly’s desire to have him feel actual pain was really just a sadomasochistic version of constituent feedback in response to the city’s budget cuts. “They took a fire engine away from us,” she explained afterwards. “He voted against us.” The annual production, now 15 years running, has gotten bawdier and racier over the years (straight arrow Mayor Chuck Reed didn’t last the whole show) but seemed to get tamer in terms of skewering the pols on sacred cow issues (Stage Co. is hoping the council will build a fancy new theater for them someday). Surprisingly, not one word was uttered about Little Saigon at Monday’s event. Even Councilwoman Madison Nguyen came to the event well prepared to take some hits on the issue. Other highlights: Obama lookalike software engineer CJ Blankenship‘s one-handed pushups on a spread-legged Hillary Clinton impersonator, District Attorney Dolores Carr‘s polished dance moves and rising star 19-year-old Manuel Romero‘s show-closing musical number.

Top photo: Councilman Constant, with ball in mouth, assumes the submissive position for his failure to fund District 6 fire protection. Below left: “Mayor, mayor on the wall.” Below right: Constant as The Hulk.

The Fly is the valley’s longest running political column, written by Metro Silicon Valley staff, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at local politics. Fly accepts anonymous tips.

7 Comments

  1. I’ve always found this annual event to be a classic case of “look at us, and how important we are.”  A great writer once said that there’s nothing more arrogant than a false sense of humility.  The members of the city council take themselves way too seriously.  I realize that this annual event is a fundraiser for charity, but next year, how about everyone writes a check and then spends two hours picking up litter or cleaning up a park?

    These guys aren’t making fun of themselves…they’re promoting themselves and their self-inflated sense of importance.

    Pete Campbell

  2. Pete Constant seems way more than a little hypocritical. He wants library porn filters installed, yet he has no problem being photographed as a sex slave being flogged by a dominatrix. As I was reading this SJI article my young daughter approached the computer and I closed down the screen so she wouldn’t see this picture of Constant. Would Pete Constant have a problem with kids in the public library seeing a picture of himself being portrayed in this sexual scenario? Although everyone in this picture is almost fully clothed, it is at best nauseating and bad judgment, and at worse a sign of other bigger personal issues Constant should deal with. There is nothing funny or entertaining, in my opinion, about this picture, and I sure wouldn’t want my kids inadvertently seeing it while doing research at the library.

  3. #3- Boy Dave, you sure make a lot of sense. I never thought of the hypocrisy being displayed by Council Member Constant in behaving like this. It is pretty gross, and I wonder what his children would think and say if they saw their father doing a scene straight out of “Pulp Fiction!”

  4. One thing that makes this scene even more than a little ironic is that Pete Constant is wearing a shirt with a “City of San Jose” emblem. God help any other city employee representing the city and being photographed portraying this scenario at some other function.

  5. Don’t worry Dave. Thats not a City of San Jose emblem on his shirt. That’s Pete’s logo that he made to look like an official city logo. To avoid the confusion, the city has a policy against modifying the city’s logo in any way. Guess Pete doesn’t really care though.

  6. Flogging Molly’s up next week @ Music in the Park.  Maybe Pete could reprise his role for all of us, not just the privileged few who saw him @ SJ Stage.  Flogging Pete might even draw Ms. Light in a leather teddy.

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