Farenthold, B Rep
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/blake-farenthold-blames-f-tards-his-sexual-harassment-scandal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>F<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ormer Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold, a longtime</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/nothing-congress-blake-farenthold-enjoying-view/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Tea Party crusader</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, fell from grace in a spectacular fashion, in a scandal involving sexual misconduct and misuse of taxpayer funds.</span></b></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But as far as Farenthold is concerned, everyone other than himself is to blame for his early exit from Congress.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the transcript of a <a href="https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2018/08/19/ex-texas-congressman-blake-farenthold-deposition-reveals-resignation/1036575002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">court deposition</a> from an ongoing <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/05/21/blake-farenthold-port-authority-job-lawsuit/631041002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lawsuit</a> filed by the <a href="https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/counties/farenthold-tried-to-steer-federal-contract-to-calhoun-port-chairman/article_d1dd7dd0-8f74-11e8-8281-2303dcda1f5e.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><em>Victoria Advocate</em></a>, Farenthold said he did not resign because he considered himself at fault, but because <b>he believed the "Me Too" movement would bias the House Ethics Committee against him.</b></font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 20px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I believe the public attention to the 'Me Too' movement created a political environment where it would be much more difficult for the members of the<b> Ethics Committee to separate politics from the facts," said Farenthold. He also said that he believed the Committee "was under political pressure to find a scapegoat."</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Farenthold was also <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blake-farenthold-sexual-harassment-me-too_us_5b75ae0ae4b0df9b093d8857" style="text-decoration-line: none;">questioned</a> about a text message he sent to a friend on the day of his resignation, in which he said, "the f tards won." Asked for a synonym of "F-tard," Farenthold replied, "A-S-S."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last December, it emerged that Farenthold brokered a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/01/blake-farenthold-taxpayer-funds-sexual-harassment-274458" style="text-decoration-line: none;">secret $84,000 settlement</a> with his former communications director, Lauren Greene, after a series of incidents in which he allegedly told her he had sexual fantasies about her, discussed threesomes in her presence, and remarked to another female staffer that Greene "could show her nipples whenever she wanted to."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Despite being a <a href="https://shareblue.com/millionaire-gop-lawmaker-refuses-to-repay-taxpayers-for-sex-harassment-suit/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">multimillionaire</a>, Farenthold opted to pay the settlement with tax dollars, which, amazingly, has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/07/569222233/congress-examines-sexual-harassment-settlements-paid-with-taxpayer-dollars" style="text-decoration-line: none;">perfectly legal</a> under a system set up in 1995.</b> Nonetheless, the House Ethics Committee moved to investigate the matter, prompting him to <a href="https://shareblue.com/gop-congressman-blake-farenthold-resigns-ethics-investigation/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">resign</a> in April rather than face accountability.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>He is now working as a lobbyist </b>for the Calhoun Port Authority for the city of Port Lavaca, TX. The <em>Advocate</em>'s lawsuit alleges the municipal government broke Texas state law by not soliciting public comment before hiring him, a charge the Port Authority <a href="https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2018/08/19/ex-texas-congressman-blake-farenthold-deposition-reveals-resignation/1036575002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">denies</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When the scandal first broke, Farenthold promised to <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2017/12/04/us-rep-blake-farenthold-pledges-pay-back-84000-sexual-harassment-settl/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">repay</a> the $84,000 settlement, saying he didn't "want taxpayers to be on the hook for this." But he never did. Questioned by <em style="">Advocate</em> attorney John Griffin, Farenthold said, "It was my intent to pay it back until I was advised and researched on my own that it would be illegal to do that. I believe the taxpayers and the mayor would be more interested in my following the law."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He did not elaborate on what law prohibits him from doing this, and one aide for a top House Republican made clear <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blake-farenthold-sexual-harassment-me-too_us_5b75ae0ae4b0df9b093d8857" style="text-decoration-line: none;">this is not true</a>. He also claims a law advancing in Congress would let the government to deduct the money from his retirement account anyway, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blake-farenthold-sexual-harassment-me-too_us_5b75ae0ae4b0df9b093d8857" style="text-decoration-line: none;">which is also false</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A special election was held in June to replace Farenthold in Texas' 27th Congressional District, which covers Corpus Christi and Victoria along the Gulf Coast. Republican Michael Cloud <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/polls-close-in-special-election-to-replace-texas-gop-congressman/2018/06/30/ae0aede2-7c51-11e8-aeee-4d04c8ac6158_story.html?utm_term=.daf01e4bfc6e" style="text-decoration-line: none;">handily won</a> the deep red district.</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: CalvertMTBold, Arial, TazuganeGothic, serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px auto 30px; font-size: 1.1875rem;">Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX-27) </h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Climate change denier</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px; font-family: "Open Sans", "Trebuchet MS", TazuganeGothic, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">"Global warming is scare tactic used by groups with a political agenda. While I support protecting the environment, the green agenda pushes it way beyond common sense, with ideas like cap and trade which would destroy American industry."</i><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />[<a href="http://blake.com/?page_id=271" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(121, 116, 189); font-weight: bold;">Black Farenthold, Congress</a>]</p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div>