Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Martin (Marty) Peterson was the Idaho State Budget Director with a long history in Republican political circles, working for Senator Frank Church, Governors Andrus and Evans. That may be why he got 90 days in jail and a ten-year suspended sentence despite pleading guilty to two counts of possessing child sexual abuse material. He admitted to looking at images of children ages 10 to 12 being sexually abused and tortured for years.
Eric Lipman was General Counsel for the Florida Elections Commission. He was arrested for eleven counts of possessing child pornography, more accurately called child sexual abuse material. Before working for the Elections Commission, he worked for the Florida Department of Children and Families in Leon, Wakulla and Franklin counties. Alarmingly, he was also an officer of the Capital Soccer Association, a soccer league for children ages 4 to 17. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 72 months.
Ken Kurson is a friend of Jared Kushner, editing Kushner’s New York Observer. He was also a Giuliani confidante and a political consultant. He was nominated to a seat on the board of the National Endowment of the Humanities but withdrew claiming it was too much paperwork. In fact, the initial background check for all nominees uncovered that he was stalking and harassing three people. He was arrested on federal charges of cyber-stalking, installing a keystroke recorder, calling employers to make complaints about them, and more. One of the people he is accused of cyberstalking is his ex-wife.
Democratic Governor Ted Kulongowski appointed Minnis as Director of the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training program. He resigned after accused of sexual harassment and possible sexual assault of a subordinate. She alleged that he got her drunk and she woke up in his bed with no memory of what happened. He claimed whatever happened, it was consensual.
Michael Caputo is a former member of the Trump Administration, appointed as spokesperson for Health and Human Services. He is now a fierce rightwing advocate, a political strategist, and a lobbyist. When he began his service, he deleted nearly all this tweets, but CNN researched them using the Wayback Machine.
Ronny Jackson is a U.S. Congressman from Texas. He was also the White House doctor and Trump’s nominee to run the VA, a nomination that he withdrew from after revelations of his years of abuse of alcohol and the hostile work environment he created for his suborndinates.
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.
Gen. Guy Roberts was a high-ranked Pentagon official. He was serving as assistant Defense secretary for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs when he resigned during an investigation of allegations of sexual harassment. Three women came forward alleging he forced hugs and kisses on them and made inappropriate jokes.
Betsy DeVos was President Trump’s Secretary of Education. During her tenure, she focused heavily on reforming sexual misconduct rules for schools and universities to protect men who are accused. DeVos actually accused schools of operating “kangaroo courts” because they were acting to protect women. She defined sexual harassment to limit what could be included and…