NASHVILLE, TN – Today it was reported that Democrat State Rep. Janis Baird Sontany made questionable comments regarding female Republican state legislators. According to the blog that posted the comments:

“Rep. Janis Baird Sontany (D-53) said of female Republican state legislators, ‘You have to lift their skirts to find out if they are women. You sure can’t find out by how they vote!’"

“Rep. Sontany’s comments are very strange and definitely inappropriate,” said Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney. “Questioning the other side’s voting record is one thing, but using this verbiage to get your point across is petty and insulting.”

According to the blog, the comments were made at an event honoring Democrat Congressman Jim Cooper which was attended by a number of Democrat legislators and candidates. The blog continued:

"Sontany joined her fellow Davidson County Democrats for a legislative breakfast to honor U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper at the United Steelworkers building. Other state legislators at the breakfast were Sen. Douglas Henry (21) and Rep. Gary Moore (50) plus several candidates for legislative office.”

“It is a bit disturbing that Rep. Sontany would speak this way about her colleagues just because she felt she was in the presence of ‘friends’,” continued Devaney. “I would hope that Congressman Cooper and the other Democrats in attendance would denounce these disrespectful remarks.”