Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Jamie Berryhill was a Republican primary candidate in Texas’ 11th Congressional district, an open seat with the retirement of Rep. Mike Conaway. With the endorsement of Texas Right to Life and the House Freedom Fund which is affiliated with the House Freedom Caucus, he was one of the more serious candidates. Until he wrote that immigrants entering America is like rape and that rape leaves a woman without value.
Dennis Nielsen is a gun shop owner and was a Republican primary candidate for District 11 in North Carolina’s state senate. He lost the primary. His wife also sought and got a restraining order against him for domestic violence. Trigger Warning: The News & Observer story is harrowing in terms of psychological abuse.
Michelle Ugenti-Rita was a Republican state senator in Arizona and a state representative before that. She was accused of sexual harassment by a female lobbyist who claimed that Ugenti-Rita and her husband were soliciting her for a threesome. Ugenti-Rita’s husband sent explicit photos to the lobbyist asking for a threesome, but she also claimed Ugenti-Rita invited her to her hotel room and asked her to stay the night. Ugenti-Rita acknowledged she took the photos, but claimed not to know her husband sent them to the lobbyist.
Richard Bucci is a Catholic priest who took it upon himself to excommunicate forty-four Rhode Island legislators who voted to codify abortion rights. He sent out a notice informing the public that the named people could not receive communion, witness a marriage, read during a funeral, or serve as godparents. For him, abortion is worse than pedophilia. “Pedophilia never killed anyone.”
Rene Pedrosa was a spokesperson for Miami Mayor Francis Suarez until he was charged with battery (groping) a minor and sending that minor a pornographic image. Those were state charges, then the federal government filed additional charges that include producing child pornography, receiving child pornography, and enticing a minor into sexual activity.
Robert Wilkie is a white nationalist extremist appointed by President Trump as Secretary of Veteran Affairs. A long-time member of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, he said abolitionists were radical, dishonest, and enemies of liberty. When he was in the Bush Administration, he participated in a Confederate Memorial wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington, saluting the Confederate flag. When he was appointed by Trump, he said that was all behind him, though he lied about his membership in the SCV. However, he earned his place on the list with his unprofessional efforts to discredit a woman who reported being sexually harassed and assaulted at the Washington, D.C. VA hospital.
Randall Hunt was appointed to lead the Florida lottery by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. However, appointments like that require confirmation by the Florida Senate. A background check revealed the police had investigated him for domestic violence. When asked if he had been subject to an investigation, he said no, which was untrue.
He was sued in 2018 by his former chief of staff, Brian Finnegan, who accused him of molesting him while the two shared a hotel room in 2017. They usually traveled together from their Long Island office to Albany, sharing a hotel or Lupinacci’s apartment. In December 2017, Finnegan alleges that he was drunk and woke up to Lupinacci fondling his genitals. He quit the next day.
Ciro Adams, a former member of the Wilmington, Delaware, City Council and the City of Wilmington were sued by a former employee who claimed he sexually and racially harassed her at a social event. She was so disturbed by the interaction, she took Family Medical Leave Act time off. When she returned to work, she was, she claimed, retaliated against for filing a complaint about Adams’ behavior. The suit claims an internal investigation found Adams engaged in inappropriate conduct. She was suspended from work after posting religious content on their twitter account, a move she said was disproportionate to what she did and retaliatory in nature.
Glenn Aronow was an aide to New York Republican State Senator Maziarz who was majority leader at the time. A co-worker sued him, Sen. Marianz, and the NY Attorney General due to the sexual harassment he subjected her to on the job. She alleged that he sexually harassed her daily, touching her, making sexual comments and threats and showing her pornography on his computer. One time he locked the door when the two were alone in the office, frightening her.