Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
James DeCesare was a Kentucky state representative from 2005 to 2018. He was one of several Kentucky legislators who were accused of sexual harassment who settled a lawsuit with the accuser. He sued the accuser, not because he claimed innocence, but for disclosing the settlement to her supervisor who reported the harassment. They dropped their suit because misbehavior by public officials is information of public concern
Rob Brooks is a Republican state representative, re-elected by Wisconsin voters after he was asked to resign y Republican governor Scott Walker. He did step down from his position as Assistant Majority Leader, but refused to resign. This was after he made sexist comments to two women Republicans and racist comments to the only Latina Republican in the caucus. He blamed it on being drunk, but that does not make it okay.
He said he was going to buy drinks for everyone except the only Hispanic legislator in the Republican caucus. Folks originally characterized it as a bad joke. He did buy drinks for other people, but not her. The three women described his comments as inappropriate and offensive. Voters had a choice in the Republican primary and 80% of them voted for the person guilty of sexual harassment.
George Faught was a Republican state representative from 2007-2012 when he made an unsuccessful run for Congress. Heading back to the state house, he served from 2014-2017. He lost Republican primaries in 2018 and 2020. He is most notable for opposing a rape or incest exemption to Oklahoma’s anti-abortion bill. When a opponent of the bill asked whether he was asserting rape was the will of god, he asserted a pregnancy that resulted from rape was “bringing beauty from ashes.”
Eric Schleien was a New Hampshire state representative for two terms. His role model was Rand Paul. He is currently a podcaster, investor, and media personality His website says he is a tribal leader, but that’s a corporate training certification and has nothing to do with any indigenous tribe. He does not mention that he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child.
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.
Michael Cappa, a former Kansas state legislator, made the list twice. Child abuse and concocting false allegations of sexual harassment.
Republicans control several state legislatures and are the major impediment to reforming the various state statutes of limitations (SOL) preventing victims of child sexual abuse victims from seeking justice. Child USA tracks the progress of SOL reform in the states. Children who are abused are often not ready to report until they have processed what happened to them. Some states set an age limit for reporting and filing a civil case that favors abusers. Republican states have been slow to reform or eliminate their statute of limitations. In some states the Democratic-controlled body has passed reform several times to see it die in the Republican-controlled other body.
Bill Schuette was the Congressional representative for District 10 for three terms before he ran for US Senate and lost. He served two years in the Michigan Senate before becoming the Attorney General of Michigan from 2011 to 2018 and ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor against Gretchen Whitmer in 2018. He’s a fairly typical conservative Republican, opposing gay marriage, abortion, legalization of marijuana, and the Affordable Care Act.
He also denigrates professional women while they are working as shown in this video where he sexually harasses a camera operator insinuating she would want to do more than just film him. You can judge for yourself if women can expect to be treated as his professional equal. In his defense, Schuette said the video was heavily edited. The Detroit News obtained the entire clip and verified the accuracy of the clip, refuting his defense.
He has been accused by several men of raping them when they were minors. In 2017, a man came forward suing Judge Pressler, claiming he was raped by Pressler when he was just fourteen and the sexual assaults continued for decades. As often happens, once one person comes forward, others find the courage to come forward as well. According to court records, he settled with another accuser in 2004. He was successful in getting the suit dismissed because of the statute of limitations, but his accuser appealed and won in the Texas Supreme Court in April, 2022.
Roger Rivard was a Wisconsin state representative for one term. His crass remarks regarding a local rape involving a 17-year-old raping a 14-year-old in the band room at school. He said “some girls rape easy.” This was, he claimed, his father’s advice. Thinking to explain the full context, he said:
“What the whole genesis of it was, it was advice to me, telling me, ‘If you’re going to go down that road, you may have consensual sex that night and then the next morning it may be rape.’ So the way he said it was, ‘Just remember, Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.’