Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Mark Bedell ran as the Republican candidate for a Maine House seat. He was arrested on aggravated assault charges and was accused of domestic violence. He was held without bail. The Maine GOP asked him to step down.
Paige Patterson is a Baptist religious leader who was a big part of the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention and served as the president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Typical of conservative fundamentalists, he opposed the ordination of women. He bragged about telling a woman to stay with her abusive husband because the husband started going to church.
He was sued in 2018 for his part in covering up Paul Pressler’s sexual assaults, but was dropped because of the statute of limitations. Southwestern had him step down and made him President Emeritus. Later in the year, an investigation of the rape of a woman on campus revealed his email to campus security telling them he wanted to meet with the woman alone to “break her down.” He was then completely fired, no more emeritus title and benefits.
In 2019, a woman sued for his abuse and intimidation when she reported being repeatedly raped.by another student. She claimed to be the woman he wanted to break down. He threatened the woman’s mother with legal action for asking why the alleged rapist was still allowed on campus. He told the police that the rape was consensual sex. He told her the rape was a “good thing,” Since then he has given speeches that imply women lie about rape. He has been elected to boards and given posts by belligerently misogynist churches. Patterson claims she never told him.
Mark Patterson was an Idaho state representative. He ended up resigning after it was revealed that he pleaded guilty to attempted rape in 1974. He did not disclose this in his concealed carry permit application in 2007 and 2012 when he renewed. The Ada County sheriff revoked his permit and said he in ineligible for a permit. He was able to carry until he resigned because Idaho legislators exempted themselves from needing a permit.
He called everything a smear and claimed the woman lied. She claimed he raped her twice, threatening her with telling his Doberman to attack if she did not comply. He got a nice plea deal, pleading to attempted rape and got a suspended sentence and five years probation. He claimed it was supposed to be expunged.
Dennis Hof was the Republican candidate for the Nevada Assembly. He was a legal brothel owner. He thought of himself as a Trump-like figure, flamboyant and fond of publicity. He starred in an HBO series called Cathouse and published a copycat book, “The Art of the Pimp.” He had been accused of sexual assault four times, the most recent a month before his death in October 2018. He was also accused in 2005, 2009, and 2011. Prosecutors declined to file charges, citing the statute of limitations, a continuing problem with holding abusers accountable.
Tim Kapucian was an Iowa state senator who served three terms until 2021. According to the successful sexual harassment/discrimination lawsuit, Kapucian was present during and laughing along with the “boys will be boys” talk about women, including malicious gossip about a Democratic woman senator sleeping with an entire sports team. Multiple male staffers said he made inappropriate jokes.
Bill Anderson was included among the men making it a bad place for women to work by saying inappropriate things about women, but only when male staffers were presence. In his own deposition, Anderson said he walked away when people told inappropriate jokes.
When he was interviewed by the Des Moines Register, he said he didn’t recall anything inappropriate. “I guess I never experienced anything that would be described as toxic or inappropriate,” Anderson said. He resigned, not in disgrace, but to become the executive director of the Cherokee Area Economic Development Corp.
Rick Bertrand was a Republican Iowas state senator. When a woman won a $2.2 million lawsuit (She settled for $1.75 million) against the Republican caucus and the State of Iowa for the culture of sexual harassment that the Caucus allowed to fester for years and her retaliatory firing just seven hours after filing a memo detailing that culture, Bertrand called for the resignation of the Caucus Leader Bill Dix. Good for him.
But then, there are details of the complaint. There is Bertrand making inappropriate comments and suggesting the wife of Ed Failor Jr might want to join him in bath time. Bad for him.
Failor was included in the sexual harassment lawsuit that entangled so many Iowa Republicans. He was the person she tried to report working conditions to but she believed he was unreceptive. He began criticizing her work after she made her earlier reports of on-the-job harassment. Another personal also reported problems and he did nothing about it.
After Anderson won the lawsuit, there was an internal investigation that was secret, though they claimed the investigation showed “no provable harassment.” It was a cover job.
Merlin E. Bartz was an Iowa state senator until defeated in 2012. In 2015, he was elected to the Worth County Board of Supervisors. He was named in the $2.2 million suit against the Iowa GOP caucus and the State of Iowa for retaliating when Kirsten Anderson filed a memo detailing sexual harassment of the women who worked for the caucus by staffers and senators. She was fired seven hours after submitting her memo. She alleged Bartz commented on what women wore, their hair, clothing, and shoes.
Shawn Hamerlinck was an Iowa state senator for one term. He lost his seat in 2012, a year before Kristen Anderson was fired for complaining about sexual harassment. Nonetheless, he was named in her suit for his inappropriate behavior while in office. He liked to talk about women’s breast, commenting on their size and the hemlines of their skirts. Kristen Anderson was a Republican Caucus communications director who from 2010 to 2013 filed three complaints about rampant sexual harassment of Republican Caucus women employees. When she submitted her third memo, in 2013, she was fired seven hours later. She sued for retaliation and sexual harassment. She won $2.2 million.