Exposing the Corruption of the "Family Values" Party
Jodie Laubenberg is a Texas state representative who retired in 2018. In 2013, during debate on an anti-abortion bill she sponsored, she opposed an amendment carving out an exception for rape and incest. She claimed that rape kits cleaned women out and were the equivalent of a D&C. She later claimed her statement was a bit muddled. This was the bill Wendy Davis filibustered.
Bill Brough was a California Republican Assemblyman representing Orange County. He was asked by his party to retire and withdraw from 2020 re-election race because of sexual harassment and assault allegations as well as an ethics investigation for using campaign funds for personal use. He ran for re-election anyway. He came in fourth in the primary.
Bill Post was an Oregon state representative and a rightwing radio host who always rushed to the extreme right, anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-gun control, anti-woman, and definitely opposed to making work safe for women. He tweeted a meme that mocked sexual assault victims and only deleted after days of protest and did not apologize. Instead,…
Michael Henne is an Ohio state representative who said something offensive to a table of people at an event. There was an investigation that determined his remark was inappropriate but did not rise to the level of criminal sexual harassment. He was ordered to take sensitivity training and lost a committee assignment.
Bill Seitz was accused of sexual harassment after a going-away party for a Republican staffer. In his comments, he disparaged women in the legislature and made light of sexual harassment. He mocked women and used misogynist crude epithets to describe them. He apologized. The House leadership hired a law firm to investigate. The same law firm where Seitz worked for 36 years. The same law firm that donated to his campaign. They cleared him.
Jim Stewart III is a Kentucky state representative. In 2015, he was accused of sexual harassment. A woman on the legislative staff filed a complaint noting that she even changed her movement so she could avoid him and he would seek her out. He grew more insistent, trying to speak to her in public and calling her several times a day.
James Holtzclaw is an Idaho Republican representative. In 2017, a complaint was filed revealing that at least two women objected to what he said to them. One claimed he made her feel uncomfortable and asked if she used SnapChat. The other said she told him to stop making flirty comments to her.
Barry Hovis is a Republican state representative in Missouri. He is anti-abortion and supported a ban on abortion after eight weeks. To make his case, he expounded on his experience as a police officer informing him that most rapes were not “a gentleman” jumping out of the bushes but were “date rapes or consensual rapes.”
Robert Foster is a former state representative in Mississippi. He ran for governor but lost the Republican primary with less than 18% of the vote. Shamefully, he would not allow women to cover his campaign without a chaperone. He said someone could take a picture of him with a woman, his rivals could use it to smear him. “Out of respect for his wife” women had to have chaperones.
For example, he delayed the trial of child rapist Jason Brothers eight times over seven years until the prosecutor felt he had no choice but offer a deal. So Brothers admitted to rape and got probation. In another case, a man with a long history of domestic violence beat up another woman, he hired Ralston and brags about knowing Ralston will just delay his trial.