Stockman, S Rep

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CNP ginni

pension?

recovered?

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On December 22, 2020, Stockman's sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump and he was released from the Beaumont facility, serving only two years of his ten-year sentence. According to the White House, he will remain subject to a period of supervised release and an order requiring that he pay more than $1,000,000 in restitutioN.

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/coup-plotters-reunion-ginni-thomas/

an 11 22 badash

Political experts are warning about a group of nearly 60 far-right wing politicos including **Ginni Thomas**, **Matt Schlapp**, and **Cleta Mitchell** who reportedly will issue a letter calling for the House and Senate to delay votes on leadership positions including Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader.

Axios’ Jonathan first reported the news, posting at least part of the letter and the list of signatories (below).

Some of the other more recognizable names on the letter include **Mark Meadows**, the former Trump White House chief of staff; **Cleta Mitchell**, the attorney who The New York Times calls the “architect of Donald J. Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election”; former Trump attorney **Jenna Ellis**; former U.S. Senator and former Heritage Foundation president **Jim DeMint** (R-SC); former Trump deputy campaign manager **David Bossie**, the right wing activist and head of the organization responsible for the **Citizens United** Supreme Court lawsuit that made countless billions of dark money in political elections legal.

Also, white supremacist and disgraced former U.S. Congressman **Steve King** (R-IA); convicted felon and disgraced former U.S. Congressman **Steve Stockman** (R-TX), right-wing religious extremist **Kenneth Blackwell** of the **Family Research Council**, which is on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups, and others....

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wiki uline

Involvement in conservative media

In the lead-up to the 2014 U.S. Senate race in Texas, Richard donated $450,571.65 to finance a newspaper that published false stories about Representative Steve Stockman's opponent, Senator John Cornyn, suggesting that he "wanted to ban veterans from having guns, had voted to fund abortion, and was secretly working with Democrats to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants".^[74][75] This was discovered when the donation was investigated as an attempt by Stockman to subvert limits on coordinated campaign spending.^[74]

Richard Uihlein has had a longstanding financial relationship with conservative newspaper producer Brian Timpone.^[39] Since 2004, Timpone has worked to build a network of locally published free Internet and print news.^[76] These newspapers often employ names that are similar to respected local institutions but are unaffiliated with them.^[77] The articles he publishes often reference real events, but he has been accused of severely distorting facts to create emotional responses in his readers.^[76] Timpone's companies have been known to offer pay-for-play articles to conservative clients.^[39] From 2016 to 2018, a political action committee the Uihleins funded gave at least $646,000 to a network of newspapers and websites Timpone created.^[39]

People Who Play By The Rules PAC, which contributed money to Timpone's operations during the 2022 Illinois races, received more than $42 million from Richard Uihlein.^[78][51][52] During the lead-up to the 2022 election, Timpone's operations blanketed the state in confusingly titled free newspapers that attacked Governor JB Pritzker and other Illinois Democrats.^[78]

In October 2024, ProPublica traced a newspaper delivered to Wisconsinites, The Wisconsin Catholic Tribune, which was unaffiliated with the Catholic Church and painted Trump as pro-Catholic and Biden as anti-Catholic, to Timpone and Uihlein.^[79] The company producing the newspapers, which is owned by Timpone, was paid by Restoration PAC, which had received $125 million from Richard between 2020 and the article's publication.^[79]

Richard is a supporter of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization formed in 2012 with a strong media arm.^[80][81] Between 2014 and 2016, he donated $275,000 to it.^[82] On January 13, 2021, shortly after the January 6 attack, he donated $250,000 to it.^[83]

RealClearPolitics and The Federalist are also significant recipients of funds from the Ed Uihlein foundtation, Richard Uihlein's philanthropic entity.^[84][85]

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/08/26/former-texas-rep-steve-stockmans-arrest-surfaces-as-feds-build-case-against-trump-ally/

paywall

no lnx

Politics

Former Texas Rep. Steve Stockman’s arrest surfaces as feds build case against Trump ally

Attorneys building a case against Barrack argue Stockman’s arrest is relevant.

U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (standing) of Friendswood and musician Ted Nugent, a National Rifle Association board member at the time, spoke to a reporter before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in February 2013.

By Emily Caldwell

Aug 26, 2022

WASHINGTON — The arrest timeline of former Houston-area Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, convicted in 2018 in a complex corruption scheme that involved misusing charitable funds, may be used as evidence by U.S. attorneys building a case against Trump allyTom Barrack.

Barrack, a private equity investor and close friend of former President Donald Trump, will go on trial with a business associate in September on charges of illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

In a brief submitted before Barrack’s trial, attorneys said they intend to introduce evidence showing that Barrack and his associate were directed, by the UAE, to meet with and advocate for the appointment of Stockman to the position of U.S. ambassador to the UAE, but were unable to because of Stockman’s arrest on March 16, 2017.

The attorneys argued that Stockman’s “arrest is relevant because it explains why the Defendants were not able to fulfill this request, despite agreeing to do so.”

“Without this information, the jury may mistakenly conclude that the Defendants willingly refused to follow through on the UAE’s direction, when, in fact, circumstances beyond their control deprived them of the opportunity to do so,” the attorneys wrote.

Though Stockman’s name has been redacted from the public brief, text describing him as a former congressman and his arrest date are clearly visible, and Stockman had, in the weeks before his arrest, indicated he was highly interested in securing the UAE ambassador position.

The 74-year-old Barrack, who was chairman of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund, and his associate Matthew Grimes, 27, were arrested in July.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to charges of secretly advancing the UAE’s interests, at the direction of senior UAE officials, by influencing Trump’s 2016 campaign foreign policy positions and U.S. government stances during the first half of Trump’s presidency.

In 2018, Stockman was convicted in federal court of masterminding a wide-ranging fraud scheme, using significant charitable donations from big-shot conservative donors to cover campaign debts and personal expenses. He was found guilty of all but one of the 24 counts brought against him, including fraud, money laundering and violating federal election law.

In late 2020, Trump commuted the remainder of Stockman’s 10-year prison sentence, prompting his release from the Federal Correctional Institution, a low-security facility in Beaumont. His family had been worried about his health after he contracted COVID-19 while incarcerated.

Emily Caldwell

Emily Caldwell. Emily Caldwell is covering politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News. She is from College Station, Texas, and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2021 with degrees in journalism and Latin American studies. She spent a number of years at The Daily Texan, UT's student newspaper, and was the editor-in-chief her senior year.

emily.caldwell@dallasnews.com

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no lnx 2x? tex trib

Trump commutes remaining prison term of former Texas GOP congressman Steve Stockman, who was convicted of misusing charitable funds

President Donald Trump also pardoned former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler and covering it up in 2006.

BY SHANNON NAJMABADI DEC. 22, 2020

Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, right, leaves the United States District Courthouse in Houston in 2018. Outgoing President Donald Trump commuted the remainder of Stockman's 10-year prison sentence for misuse of charitable funds. Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune

President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday commuted the remaining prison sentence of former Republican Texas congressman Steve Stockman, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2018 after he was convicted of nearly two-dozen felonies, including fraud.

Prosecutors said the conservative firebrand from Friendswood misused $1.25 million in funds from political donors to pay for expenses like hot air balloon rides, kennel bills and a new dishwasher — rather than for charity like the donors were told. He was also accused of planting an undercover intern in the state House office of a political rival.

Former U.S. Reps. Bob McEwen and Bob Barr, Republicans from Ohio and Georgia, respectively, were among the public figures who called for Stockman’s release, according to a statement from the White House press secretary, announcing the outgoing president had pardoned 15 people and commuted the sentences of five....

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former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, who asked President Donald Trump for compassionate release from his federal prison sentence during the pandemic, has contracted COVID-19, according to a spokesperson for the family.

Stockman, 63, confirmed with laboratory test results that he has the virus on Friday, the spokesperson said.

“Immediate prayer request!” reads a tweet from Stockman’s Twitter account that tagged Trump. “Steve Stockman learned yesterday positive for COVID, moved to isolation with others infected BUT GIVING NO medication. [hydroxy?] Steve had a hard time breathing last night. I’m VERY concerned. PRAY!!”

The novel coronavirus has spread through Texas prisons for months. Activists and local leaders have called for the compassionate release of elderly or at-risk people from prisons and jails in the state to curb the spread of the virus.

The former Republican congressman was convicted of an intricate corruption scheme in April 2018. He was sentenced to spend 10 years at the Federal Correctional Institution, a low-security facility in Beaumont.

In April, his wife, Patti Stockman — along with evangelical leaders, conservative officials and former members of the Cabinet and Congress — made pleas for the man’s release. They said he was especially at risk because he is overweight and has diabetes, lung scarring from asthma and high blood pressure.

“Our worst nightmare has come to life, he should have been sent to home confinement months ago,” Patti Stockman said in a prepared statement. “All other insulin-dependent diabetics over 60 were sent to home confinement, except him.”

Calls for release from Stockman’s camp went unanswered by the Trump administration. He is still being held at the Beaumont prison.

Stockman was convicted of a scheme that included spying on a GOP rival and misspending charitable contributions on shopping trips, dolphin boat tours, hot air balloon rides and 500 copies of his brother’s custom-made pop-up Advent books.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com

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no lnx

2019 Bum Steer Awards: Steve Stockman,Who Proved a Particularly Greedy and Especially Busy Criminal

The disgraced former congressman is our third runner-up for his eagerness to enrich himself—or at least pay his kennel bills—in a transparently illegal manner.

By Texas Monthly

January 2019

For more from our 2019 Bum Steer Awards, click here.

When Steve Stockman was sentenced to ten years in prison in early November, one of the strangest political careers in Texas history came to an apparent end. The East Texan, who represented the Ninth Congressional District from 1995 to 1997 and the Thirty-sixth from 2013 to 2015, was best known not for his legislative accomplishments but for his unhinged and sometimes very funny Twitter account. (He once tweeted a photo of someone lubricating a gun with a spray bottle of “Liberal Tears.”) At least, that’s what Stockman was best known for until March 2017, when the federal government indicted him on 24 counts of fraud. This past April a Houston jury convicted him of all but one of those counts.

Because Stockman was a particularly greedy and especially busy criminal, the case against him was complicated; prosecutors compiled 142,378 pages of evidence. But at heart it was a simple con: Stockman solicited contributions for a charitable cause and then used the money to fund his political campaigns and a variety of personal expenditures.

Here, drawing on trial evidence and testimony, is a partial list of what our Bum Steer of the Year third runner-up spent those ill-gotten dollars on:

A hot-air balloon ride

A kennel bill

SkyMall catalog items

A dishwasher

A trip to New Orleans

Airline tickets to South Sudan

Rehab for a female associate who suffered from alcoholism

A trip to Disneyland

Purchases at a Galveston surf shop

A dolphin boat ride

Items from Forever 21

Burner phones

Sessions at a tanning salon

Copies of his brother’s pop-up Christmas book

Summer camp expenses for his nephew and the daughter of a family friend

Purchases from Target, Fry’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Walmart, and someplace near the Egyptian pyramids

Dental, medical, and power bills

Charges at a tattoo parlor in Venice, California

Donation to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in connection with a poultry fund-raising venture

$41,000 for surveillance of a politician who Stockman worried might someday challenge him for his House seat

bEAUMONT – Friends and citizens concerned for former U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman’s health, will conduct a prayer gathering 10 a.m., Thursday, June 18, in front of Jack Brooks Federal Building, 300 Willow Street, in Beaumont.

Stockman, who served as a U.S. Representative for Texas’ 9th and 36th congressional districts, was convicted in 2018 and is now serving a ten-year sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Beaumont, Texas.

Golden Triangle citizens are praying for his fragile health and calling for the prison to reinstate their approval to transfer Stockman to home confinement. He is a 63-year-old diabetic and suffers with other significant health issues, putting him at high risk of the COVID-19 virus.

Stockman was initially scheduled for transfer to home confinement in accordance with the Attorney General’s direction to move at-risk inmates to the safety of home. When reporting for a mandatory pre-release 14-day quarantine, Stockman was informed they’d reversed their decision.

In April, according to PRNewswire press release, Stockman’s caseworker advised he’d made the list for transfer to home confinement under the CARES Act due to his advanced age and health conditions, including asthma-scarred lungs, hypertension and diabetes.< Stockman signed documents to begin the transfer process. When he reported, with other non-violent offenders on the list, for quarantine prior to being sent home, he was told his name had been removed from the list. He was allegedly told that he is safer in prison and he had not served 50% of his sentence.

“Why is Mr. Stockman being treated differently” demanded Joshua Delano, of Orange. “He is the only insulin-dependent diabetic over age 60 who the Beaumont camp hasn’t sent home.”

With Coronavirus rampant in federal prisons, supporters believe the transfer will reduce his risk of contracting COVID-19. They say the prison has also denied Stockman refill of his prescription for immunity-boosting Zinc since February.

On June 10, Texas recorded a new daily high of 2,504 new COVID-19 cases, 21% of those in Jefferson County alone. The Texas Department of State Health Services blames the spike in new cases in Jefferson Co. on how local health departments are now reporting numbers from prison facilities. That includes three facilities in Jefferson Co.: the Larry Gist State Jail, Mark W. Stiles Unit and the Richard P. LeBlanc Unit, according to a report by www.12newsnow.com.

The Beaumont prison recently had an eighth staff member contract the COVID virus and supporters say local officials believe the prison is immune. However, the virus entered through guards at the Ft. Worth prison which had no cases the first of April, but had 232 cases of the virus by April 26; now Ft. Worth’s total cases are 600 with 11 inmate deaths. This shows how fast the virus could spread when it hits the Beaumont prison environment.

On June 1, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, acknowledging that prisons are not designed for social distancing. Since then, there’s been at least a 29% increase in COVID cases within the federal system.

“Regardless of whether one thinks Steve is guilty, he does not deserve a possible death penalty from this virus,” said Delano. “We don’t need another Jeffrey Epstein type death due to prison negligence.”

ltr

http://www.conservativehq.com/article/32277-conservative-leaders-urge-humanitarian-release-former-rep-steve-stockman

tothe TASK FORCE that does nothing?!

Petition to The White House Coronavirus Task Force

About The Emergency Need to Protect

Nonviolent At-Risk Prisoners

While your important work has focused on so much of the American population, we the undersigned conservatives from organizations representing millions of Americans call on you to rapidly address the safety of non-violent, non-sex crime prisoners whose health conditions and the conditions within our prison system make them “sitting ducks” for a death sentence due to the COVID-19 virus.

The guidelines you have established for the general population, such as social distancing, are not being followed in America’s prisons, and may not or even cannot be followed due to the nature of the prison system.

Prisoners with pre-existing bad health conditions are particularly vulnerable to being infected in over-crowded cells, dorms, and feeding facilities. These prisoners were sentenced for crimes, but the present circumstances literally make them at risk for a death sentence, a punishment that does not fit their crimes.

These prisoners lack advocates on their behalf, and are even treated with contempt by some within the prison and criminal justice system.

A perfect example of a prisoner who fits criteria of who should be removed from prison is former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman, who at age 63, with diabetes and a lung condition, and who was being denied medication in prison even before the coronavirus outbreak, is serving under what many have reason to believe was a political prosecution -- using three failed grand juries before a fourth indicted him -- for criticizing the Obama administration, the lawlessness at the IRS under Lois Lerner, and corruption in the Ukraine. A successful man of intense Christian faith, Steve poses no danger to society, but remaining in prison may be a death sentence for him. Due to the unusual and extreme length of the judge’s sentence, Steve is not eligible for release under the First Step Act.

With so much that President Trump and Congress have done with reforms to the criminal justice system in just the past two years, we know there are paths by which certain members of the prison population who do not pose risks to society may be released early, or temporarily placed into supervised home detention with family members.

In these emergency circumstances, so many prisoners with families, who are supposed to return to normal, productive lives following their incarceration, will die unless emergency measures are taken.

Therefore, we petition the Task Force to address this emergency situation to prevent needless deaths of people who may have done wrong, but who are God’s children worthy of compassion.

Respectfully,

(organization listed for identification purposes only)

Richard A. Viguerie

Chairman

Conservative HQ

Pat Nolan

Director

Nolan Center for Justice

Sidney Powell, Esq.

Sidney Powell.com

FederalAppeals.com

L. Brent Bozell

Founder and President

Media Research Center

James Dobson Ph.D.

Founder & President

Dr. James Dobson Family Inst.

Ted Nugent

Adam Brandon

President

FreedomWorks

Bob McEwen

US House of Representatives

Fmr. Member, Ohio

Donald P. Hodel

Secretary of Energy (1982-1985)

Secretary of the Interior (1985-1989)

Michael P. Farris

President, CEO & General Counsel

Alliance Defending Freedom

Alfred S. Regnery

Chairman

Conservative Action Project

Bob Barr

Member of Congress (1995-2003)

President, Liberty Guard

Morton Blackwell

President

The Leadership Institute

Rebecca Hagelin

Chief Operations Officer

United in Purpose

Fr. Frank Pavone

National Director

Priests for Life

Beverly LaHaye

Founder

Concerned Women for America

Linda Murphy

Chairman of the Board

Concerned Women for America

Nancy Schulze

Women for Trump Advisory Board

Elaine Donnelly

President

Center for Military Readiness

Ralph Benko

Chairman

The Capitalist League

Kelly Kullberg

American Association of Evangelicals (AAE)

Foster Friess

President

Friess Family Foundation

Hon. Donald J. Devine

Senior Scholar

The Fund for American Studies

Star Parker

President

UrbanCare

Craig Shirley

Presidential Historian & Reagan Biographer

Karen England

Executive Director

Capital Resource Center

Floyd Brown

Publisher

The Western Journal

Gary Bauer

President

American Values

Kelly Shackelford

President/CEO

First Liberty Institute

Patrick A. Trueman

Donna Rice Hughes

President and CEO

Enough is Enough

Becky Norton Dunlop

The Heritage Foundation

James C. Miller III

Budget Director for

President Reagan, 1985-1988

J. Keet Lewis

Lewis Group Intl.

Andrea Seastrand

Former Member of Congress

CA 22nd Congressional District

C. Preston Noell III

President

Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Ron Robinson

President

Young America’s Foundation

Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D.

The Crouse Institute:

Strengthening Faith, Family & Culture

Ted Baehr, Th.D, HHD, J.D.

Movieguide(r)

Producer’s Guild of America Member

Richard Norman

Founder and President

The Richard Norman Company

Dr. Wm. Scott Magill

Executive Director

Veterans in Defense of Liberty®

Kathleen Patten

President and CEO

American Target Advertising, Inc.

Jim Martin

Founder/Chairman

60 Plus Association

Richard D. Hayes

Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant, LLC

Jeff Myers, Ph.D.

President

Summit Ministries

Ken and Sandy Campbell

Campbell Investment Partners

Art Ally

President

Timothy Plan

Mark J. Fitzgibbons

President of Corporate Affairs

American Target Advertising, Inc.

Dr. Frank Wright

President and CEO

D. James Kennedy Ministries

Rick Green, J.D.

Founder & Chairman

Patriot Academy

Richard I. Mack

Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association

Jim Backlin

Christian Coalition of America

bogus prnsw newsire

Presidential pardon sought for former U.S. Congressman, Steve Stockman, in wake of COVID-19 crisis

NEWS PROVIDED BY

**Patti Stockman :{:(style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal"):}:**

Apr 09, 2020,

HOUSTON, April 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The wife of an imprisoned former U.S. Congressman this week released a video imploring President Donald Trump to pardon her husband on humanitarian grounds or allow him to serve his sentence in home confinement, citing health conditions that put him at increased risk of fatality if he contracts COVID-19.

Steve Stockman, 63, who is a Type II diabetic, has scarred lungs and high blood pressure, has served two years of a 10-year sentence in a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas. After three failed grand juries, a fourth indicted him. He was convicted in 2018 of diversion of federal election donations.

Thirty four federal prisons are affected by the COVID-19 virus, and the number is expected to increase. Attorney General William Barr, in a memo to Director of Bureau Prisons, listed the age and vulnerability of the inmate to COVID-19 as the first factors to consider in assessing inmate's eligibility for home confinement.

"Mr. President, I ask you please, to intervene so that this sentence does not become a death penalty. This punishment does not fit the conviction," Stockman says in her video.

In nearby Harris County, a judge released a murder suspect on bond on March 23 after saying he feared contracting COVID-19 in jail.

"My pleas are reasonable. My husband is not a danger to society. At a minimum, I want Steve to shelter at home so that he's not sent to me in a body bag in a few weeks. Keeping an aging, physically vulnerable, non-violent, non-sex crime convicted inmate in prison during a pandemic is cruel," Patti Stockman said in an interview.

More than fifty of the nation's foremost conservative community leaders signed a petition urging Stockman's removal from prison; signers include Mrs. Beverly LaHaye founder of Concerned Women for America, Sidney Powell who is General Michael Flynn's appellate lawyer, and Dr. James Dobson founder of Focus on the Family.

"Steve Stockman poses no danger to society, but remaining in prison may be a death sentence for him," the letter states. The signers call him the "perfect example of a prisoner who fits the criteria of who should be removed from prison" during the pandemic.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ObMy5tecg

Letter: http://www.conservativehq.com/article/32277-conservative-leaders-urge-humanitarian-release-former-rep-steve-stockman

Attorney General Memo: https://www.justice.gov/file/1262731/download

SOURCE Patti Stockman

4/20

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/convicted-congress-steve-stockman-trump-pardon-15192258.php

Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, who is serving a 10-year federal prison stint for a complex campaign corruption scheme, is seeking a presidential pardon amid the growing coronavirus pandemic.

EX-LAWMAKER SENTENCED: [Ex-Congressman Steve Stockman gets 10 years in fraud case

The 63-year-old Clear Lake Republican firebrand is serving his sentence at a low-security facility in Beaumont where the Bureau of Prisons has yet to report any cases. His wife, Patti Stockman, however, states in a video made April 1 that her husband said the first case had been diagnosed at an adjoining federal prison in Beaumont.

His wife made a plea this week, along withseveral former cabinet members, ex-congressmembers and other evangelical and conservative officials, for compassionate release, saying he is among the nonviolent “sitting ducks” who are especially vulnerable and should be pardoned. They add that Stockman could die if exposed due to diabetes and lung scarring as a result of asthma. He is also overweight and has high blood pressure, his wife said.

A petition by 50 conservative leaders calls Stockman “a perfect example of a prisoner who fits criteria of who should be removed from prison.” The letter notes his “intense Christian faith,” and “the extreme length of the judge’s sentence,” and says he is not eligible for release under the First Step Act.

While inmates around the country have requested compassionate and early releases through the courts or the federal Bureau of Prisons’ new protocol outlined last month by Attorney General William Barr, they have been slow in coming. Lawyers said Stockman has tried an alternate route.

Jeffrey Crouch, an American University professor who wrote a book on presidential pardons, said the appeal is not falling on deaf ears.

“Former Rep. Stockman is a high-profile Republican and a convicted white-collar offender who enjoys support for presidential mercy from a list of leading conservatives,” Crouch said. “If President Trump decided to pardon him, the decision would fit in well with others Trump has made regarding who should receive clemency.”

Crouch noted, “What is unusual here is the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic: Trump might now have political cover to use clemency as an act of mercy to assist Stockman and perhaps others in a similar position.”

Patti Stockman, who accompanied her husbandto the Houston federal courthouse during a monthlong trial, made a video appeal directly addressing President Donald Trump.[vid]

he begins with “Hello Mr. President” and thanks Trump for his “terrific leadership in leading the nation through this,” adding, “who knows how many lives have been saved as a result of your actions.” She draws a parallel between what her husband did during his two non-consecutive terms in Congress.

“He came to Washington to do what you came to do,” she says, “upset the apple cart” and expose missteps of the Obama administration. She notes that, from her vantage point, the former Texas congressman was the target of unjust Justice Department investigation, just like Trump.

She says her husband is brave and has “stared in the face of a gun barrel” in war-torn regions of the Middle East and Africa. “But, I can tell you, President Trump, he is not fearless in the face of this virus.

"Mr. President, I ask you please to intervene so that this sentence does not become a death penalty. This punishment does not fit the conviction,” she said.

STOCKMAN’S SPENDING SPREE: 34 surprising facts revealed during Stockman fraud trial

Stockman was convicted in a wide-ranging scheme that involved spying on a potential GOP rival at the statehouse in Austin and misspending charitable contributions from conservative donors on shopping trips, dolphin boat tours, hot air balloon rides and 500 copies of his brother’s custom -made pop-up Advent books.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor who has tracked Stockman’s career said, “The long and orderly process for getting pardons has changed under the Trump administration where the president himself often makes these decisions alone, often for political reasons.”

He said Stockman might be lucky given who is working on Pennsylvania Avenue: “The likelihood of getting a pardon is low in general but with a White House prone to erratic decision making, it’s hard to say for sure."

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/07/Steve-stockman-former-congressman-sentenced-10-years-houston/

Steve Stockman, a former Texas congressman and conservative firebrand, wassentenced Wednesday morning to 10 years in federal prison.

In April, a Houston jury convicted Stockman of 23 felonies, including fraud, in a series of illegal acts prosecutors called "a white-collar crime spree." During a bizarre, weeks-long criminal trial this year, prosecutors said Stockman misused $1.25 million in funds from political donors to pay for miscellaneous and sundry personal expenses: hot air balloon rides, kennel bills and a new dishwasher. Stockman was also accused of planting an undercover intern in the state House office of a political rival, state Rep. James White, R-Hillister.

A federal judge ruled that Stockman was a flight risk and ordered him to await his sentencing in federal custody. He appeared Wednesday morning in an orange jumpsuit, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Stockman's defense team argued that the donors who poured cash into Stockman's campaign coffers gave him broad leeway on how to spend it. During the trial this spring, defense attorney Sean Buckley argued that the case "should never have been filed as a fraud case."

Instead, Buckley argued, "This is a case about why rich megadonors give money to politicians in America and the methods they use to do it.”

But that argument did not seem to convince the jury, which convicted Stockman on all but one count.

Stockman, who once advertised a bumper sticker reading “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted," served two nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House before losing a 2014 challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Read related Tribune coverage

predictably...

https://www.texastribune.org/**2018**/04/12/texas-congressman-steve-stockman-found-guilty-felony-charges/

apr 2018

Steve Stockman, a Republican former congressman from Texas, has been convicted of defrauding two conservative mega-donors and funneling their $1.25 million into personal and campaign expenses as part of what prosecutors have described as a “white collar crime spree.”

A jury in federal court in Houston ruled Thursday afternoon that Stockman is guilty of all but one of the 24 felonies he was charged with last March. After about 16 hours of deliberations over three days, the 12-person panel only declined to convict on one of four counts of wire fraud.

Stockman will appeal the verdict, his defense team said.

“Mr. Stockman is keeping his head up and we're looking forward to getting through to the next stage of this,"defense attorney Sean Buckley said.

That verdict puts Stockman — a firebrand conservative who served two nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House before losing a 2014 challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — at risk of decades in federal prison. And in the immediate future, it sends him into federal custody, where he will remain pending sentencing in August. U.S. Marshals took him into custody shortly after the verdict was read, over the objections of his lawyers. The prosecution had warned that he might be a “flight risk,” Buckley explained.

Stockman has been on trial in federal court in Houston for nearly a month on corruption charges that include mail and wire fraud, money laundering and violations of federal election law. As he heard the jury’s verdict Thursday, he sat expressionless, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Ryan Patrick, the new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas and the son of Lt. Gov Dan Patrick, was in the courtroom for the verdict.

“When public officials use their office to defraud donors and violate federal law, we will hold them accountable," Patrick said in a statement Thursday afternoon. "Corrupt officials like former congressman Stockman make it harder for the honest ones to do their jobs.”

Stockman was accused of improperly using charitable donations for unrelated efforts, including campaign and personal expenses ranging from a new dishwasher toundercover surveillance of a perceived political rival.

The Houston-area former lawmaker's attorneys have claimed that the pair of conservative mega-donors who gave him that money intended for it to serve as campaign contributions and gave the former lawmaker broad leeway for using it. Prosecutors argued that Stockman promised that money would go to specific purposes — including “educating” voters and renovating a conservative “Freedom House” for interns— and that the former lawmaker used his credibility to mislead donors.

“There has been so much rhetoric publicly about Congressman Stockman and his political views. We’re in such a politically charged environment that I can’t say I’m surprised by anything,” Buckley said. “But I am disappointed and I don’t think it’s the right result.”

If upheld on appeal, the felony conviction would make Stockman ineligible to seek Texas office. But the U.S. Constitution, which lays out eligibility requirements for federal office, does not exclude convicted felons from seeking election to the U.S. Congress.

Stockman was charged with two former aides, Thomas Dodd and Jason Posey, who both entered guilty pleas and testified against their former boss. The three faced 28 felony charges in total.

Read related Tribune coverage:

hOUSTON — It’s a tale that has included hot air balloon rides, kennel bills and several purchases from one of those once-ubiquitous SkyMall catalogues — not to mention a new dishwasher, a pricey New Orleans hotel,flights to Africa, rehabilitation for alcoholism, an undercover intern and a trip to Disneyland.

And it all came to a close Monday in a full, echoing federal courtroom here, where prosecutors made their final case againstSteve Stockman, the former Texas congressman they say paid for that punch list with money he fraudulently took from a pair of wealthy conservative donors. They also laid out for jurors the pattern they say he used to pull it off: “Sham nonprofits,” “shell bank accounts,” “concealment.” Repeat.

After three weeks of testimony about those various and sundry personal expenses, international travel of questionable purpose, undercover political surveillance and the charitable donations allegedly used to fund it all, jurors heard closing arguments this week. Stockman is charged with two dozen felonies, including wire and mail fraud, money laundering and violations of election law. Between May 2010 and October 2014, prosecutors allege, the Houston-area Republican solicited about $1.25 million in donations and used the money not for various charities — as donors were told — but instead on campaign and personal expenses for himself and his staff.

Stockman, an erstwhile conservative darling famous forinviting singer and right-wing agitator Ted Nugent to President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address and walking out of the same speech in 2014, served two nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House, in 1995 and 2013, before losing a longshot challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a fellow Republican, in 2014. He once advertised a bumper sticker that advised, “If babies had guns they wouldn’t be aborted.”

Prosecutors say that this political career helped Stockman, an accountant, pull off what they have described as a “white-collar crime spree.”

“He uses that credibility, that title, and he corrupts it,” prosecutor Ryan Ellersick said Monday morning. “He does everything in the name of charity, and it’s just about him.”

Prosecutors allege that Stockman solicited charitable donations under false pretenses, telling donors he’d use their money to “educate” voters and renovate a Washington, D.C., building to become “Freedom House,” a site for training conservative interns, prosecutors said.

“It was a lie,” Ellersick said. “He spent no money on the Freedom House. Zero. Not one dime.”

What he did spend the money on, according to court documents, was his own campaign expenses ($50,000); support for and copies of his brother’s pop-up Christmas book ($20,000); 30-day inpatient alcoholism treatment for a female associate ($11,000); and the summer camp expenses of his nephew and the daughter of a family friend ($2,200). (That friend's daughter, who was the first of two witnesses Stockman’s defense called, spent her less than 10 minutes on the stand explaining that the Christian summer camp involved lectures and team-building activities. “Sounds like she had a very nice time,” Ellersick said Monday. “[Stockman] was a liar.”)

As prosecutors stated and restated the case against him, Stockman looked on calmly, one hand to his face, spinning a pen between his fingers and scribbling the occasional note.

Defense attorneys for Stockman countered that their client never misused donor money, and they described the contributions not as co-opted charitable gifts but rather as campaign donations slyly disguised as nonprofit philanthropy. The prosecution, said defense attorney Sean Buckley, is “throwing spaghetti at the wall” with the many charges against Stockman andtrying to distract the jury with salacious tales of spywork and trips to Africa.

“This should never have been filed as a fraud case,” Buckley told the jury. “This is a case about why rich megadonors give money to politicians in America and the methods they use to do it.”

Stockman never defrauded either donor, Buckley insisted; rather, one donor gave money to Stockman through a charity in a “wink-wink deal” that would allow him to disguise a campaign donation and evade the associated taxes. The other major donor denied the true purpose of his donation years after giving it in an effort to shield himself in an FBI investigation, Buckley claimed. An enormous screen behind him blared, in yellow letters, that the government’s theory of fraud “was fabricated.” The defense called just two witnesses.

The jury will now deliberate the charges that could send Stockman to jail for decades. A verdict is expected this week.

Stockman was arrested in March 2017 at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport, where he told the Houston Chronicle he was headed to the United Arab Emirates to help Sunni Muslims as part of an ongoing project. (He had been out of office, and off the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for two years; prosecutors have alleged that other foreign trips were attempts to fraudulently solicit funds.)

In the days following, Stockman took to his still-active Twitter account to lash out at prosecutors. He decried theprobe into his financial dealings as an ongoing conspiracy from the “deep state”— a result, he said, of his vocal criticism of the Internal Revenue Service.

Days later, in a Houston courtroom, Stockman told U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson he could not afford a defense lawyer because he had just $17 in his bank account. His defense expenses are being paid by a friend who has declined to be named, according to the Chronicle.

Stockman’s case has only grown wilder since it went to trial last month. Shaughn Adeleye, a onetime operative for a now-defunct conservative activist group, testified last month that he was paid to pose as an intern in the office of state Rep. James White, a black Hillister Republican whom Stockman feared might become a political rival. Stockman funded that surveillance to the tune of $41,000,according to court documents.

“Republicans love black conservatives. I’m worried,” Stockman fretted in a text to a political ally, according to a message shown in court.

And Stockman has been deserted by the two former aides who were charged with him. Thomas Dodd and Jason Posey have both pleaded guilty and testified against their former boss. Stockman’s lawyers have said they did so only to bolster their own cases.

“I’m sorry I had the lack of character to stand up to him,” Posey told Stockman’s defense attorney while on the witness stand last week.

Posey, who now works as a fry cook in his native Mississippi,spent all day Tuesday testifying that he helped Stockman with his scheme only because he “couldn’t see a way out of it.”

Read related Tribune coverage:

ref

activist group with ties to conservative causes is promising to unveil secretly captured video footage that one group leader claims will show Texas lawmakers behaving badly, confessing to a variety of indiscretions, engaging in inappropriate relationships with special interest lobbyists and possibly admitting to criminal behavior.

That’s the claim from a man who identified himself as John Beria, spokesman for the American Phoenix Foundation, a group whose founders are known for deploying undercover cameras and have been tied to controversial operations that targeted the liberal group ACORN and former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. The former triggered complaints of smear tactics and selective editing. The latter sparked several arrests.

Word of the group's secret recordings, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, sparked outrage among House Republicans — as well as concerns about their safety.

One of the men making the recordings “appeared to be a stalker,” said state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth. “There are some sleazebags in politics, and these guys are going to fall right in that bracket.”

Beria said there was no ideological bias in its months-long undercover operation in Austin, and he said some of the most interesting findings center on conservative Republicans who act one way at home and quite another in the state capital.

“What we’re going for is just hypocrisy. It’s liberal hypocrisy. It’s conservative hypocrisy,” Beria said. “If they’re running on God and guns and babies and then come down to Austin and act like total moral hypocrites, we want to show that, too.”

:{Beria declined to make any of the footage available or to name names, making it impossible to know if the claims are exaggerated or accurate.:{}:

“Our lawyers think there are some admissions and there are some actions that would be criminal on the legislators’ part," he said. Using a variety of devices, including hidden cameras on lapels or just iPhones, the crew captured lawmakers making a series of "odd admissions."

He said the first videos should be available for release sometime this summer.

"It’s a whole variety of bad behavior," Beria said.

The undercover operation had been sparking rumors and concern at the Capitol over several days as lawmakers began talking about being interviewed by a member of the crew.

Democratic Rep. Armando Walle of Houston said he, too, was questioned — by a “gentleman wearing a leather hat” and was later told by House officials that he was part of the crew that had been “harassing” other members.

Walle said the man asked him whether he supported toll roads and then quizzed him about gun rights before asking him if he paid his female staffers as much as he paid his male staffers.

“Once he started being a little more aggressive, then I caught on,” Walle said. “His mannerism and his aggressiveness — I was like, okay, this is not a normal line of questioning.”

Some members of the group were detained last week after lawmakers complained. Beria said state police told them they were being stopped because they were "talking to lobbyists."

"Actually we have that on video as well," he said. The run-in with DPS ultimately forced the group to discuss its project before releasing it.

Beria said there's so much profanity on the footage that "there may be a parental advisory needed on some of the clips."

He did not describe any specific activity that would rise to a crime but said some relationships between powerful legislators and lobbyists will raise troubling questions.

The American Phoenix Foundation was founded by Joe Basel and his wife, Hannah Giles, who are no strangers to controversies over secretly obtained video. Basel pleaded guilty in 2010 for entering federal property under false pretenses after dressing up as a telephone repairman as part of a scheme to secretly gather video in offices of Landrieu of Louisiana, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

Giles, meanwhile, posed as a prostitute in a controversial 2009 uncover videothat targeted the liberal group ACORN, portraying the community organizing nonprofit as being complicit in an illegal scheme to set up a prostitution ring. ACORN supporters accused the controversial lead filmmaker, James O'Keefe, of compiling a selectively edited smear.

According to news reports, O'Keefe, paid a $100,000 settlement in 2013 to one of the ACORN workers who got fired over the incident, Juan Carlos Vera, saying in the agreement that he "regrets any pain suffered by Mr. Vera or his family."

O'Keefe faced similar accusations of selective editing in the Texas governor's race, when his Project Veritas claimedto have footage showing supporters of Democrat Wendy Davis laughing about his disability. But the laughter appeared to be the work of selective editing; in the raw footage of the incident, there was no laughter.

Contacted Tuesday, O'Keefe, who was arrested alongside Basel in the incident in Louisiana, said he had no involvement and no knowledge of the American Phoenix Foundation's new project. He said he hasn't worked with Joe Basel since 2010 and was caught off-guard by all the phone calls he's getting.

Beria, the spokesman for Basel's group, said the plan was to release the video from Austin in vignettes, as opposed to a long documentary.

“It will be small releases, and it will be more focused that way,” he said. "The concern there was it would be tough for people to sit through that much bad behavior.”

*Clarification: Since publishing this story, The Texas Tribune has been unable to verify that John Beria is the real name of the person who identified himself as a spokesman for the American Phoenix Foundation.

Donny F clown ended up w/oddly not wise use? too new/TP?

Nugent subsequently was invited to attend Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union address as the guest of Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman.

===

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Stockman 11 22

stephen Ernest Stockman (born November 14, 1956) is an American politician who is a member of the Republican Party and a convicted felon. He served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 9th congressional district from 1995 to 1997 and for Texas's 36th congressional district from 2013 to 2015. Stockman ran in the Republican primary for the United States Senate in the 2014 election but lost to incumbent Senator John Cornyn.

In 2018, Stockman was convicted on 23 felony counts related to money laundering and misuse of campaign contributions. He was sentenced to serve ten years in prison, and was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution.^[2][3] On December 22, 2020, President Donald Trump commuted Stockman's prison term.^[4][5]

Early life, education, and business career[

Stockman was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, outside Detroit. His parents were evangelistic Christian teachers.^[6] He graduated from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. From 1985 to 1986, he attended San Jacinto College but dropped out because he suffered from what he called "partying syndrome". In 1977 as Stockman was reporting to jail for traffic tickets, the jailers found valium in his possession after his girlfriend allegedly hid some in his underwear. He was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, but the charge was later dropped.^[7][8] He later became a born-again Christian.^[9][10] In 1990, he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.^[11] He worked as a computer salesman in Friendswood, Texas.^[12]

U.S. House of Representatives (1995–1997)[

Elections:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em"):}:[edit:{]}:

1990

Stockman's first run for Congress was in March 1990 in Texas's 9th congressional district. The district, anchored by Beaumont and Galveston, had been represented by Democratic Representative Jack Brooks since 1953. His primary challenger was Beaumont Mayor Maury Meyers.^[13] Oliver North made appearances at two of Stockman's fundraisers.^[14]

Meyers got 44.3% of the primary vote; Stockman, 41%.^[13] Since no candidate had a majority, there was a runoff election and, with the support of third-place finisher Steve Clifford,^[15] Meyers beat Stockman to win the Republican nomination.^[16]

1992

Stockman ran again in 1992 for the House in District 9. This time he was unopposed in the primary.^[17] The 1992 Republican National Convention was held in Houston in August of that year. Stockman organized a "congressional cruise" on the Houston Ship Channel as a fundraising opportunity, but no members of Congress attended.^[18] Democrat Brooks defeated him 56% to 44%.^[19]

1994

Stockman ran again for House District 9 in 1994. He had two challengers in the Republican primary: John LeCour and James Milburn. Stockman won the primary with a landslide 74%.^[20]

His Democratic opponent in the general election was, as before, incumbent Jack Brooks. Initially the National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Brooks and even donated $5,000 to his cause, while the Gun Owners of America endorsed Stockman.^[21] However, a number of NRA members threatened to resign from the organization over the issue and the NRA withdrew their support for Brooks, remaining neutral in the race.^[21] In a major upset, Stockman beat Brooks, who, had he won, would have become Dean of the United States House of Representatives,^[22] by 51% to 49%.^[23]

1996

Stockman ran unopposed in the 1996 Republican primary.^[24] In July a federal court ordered the boundaries of 13 Texas House districts to be redrawn because of racial gerrymandering, although Stockman's district was barely affected.^[25] Stockman won a plurality in the November election with 46%, forcing a runoff against Democratic Jefferson County assessor Nick Lampson.^[26] Lampson won the runoff election with 53% of the vote.^[27]

Tenure[

During his 1995 term, Stockman opposed the U.S. bailout of the Mexican peso.^[28][29]

In 1995, Stockman wrote an article for Guns & Ammo claiming that the Waco siege had been orchestrated by the Clinton administration in order "to prove the need for a ban on so-called 'assault weapons.'"^[30] He wrote further that "[h]ad Bill Clinton really been unhappy with what Attorney General Janet Reno ordered, he would not only have fired her, he would have had Reno indicted for premeditated murder." After the article was published, Stockman's office denied that he believed in Waco "conspiracy theories."^[31][32]

In 1995, Stockman called for a Congressional investigation into Alfred Kinsey's 1948 study Sexual Behavior in the Human Male after learning that Kinsey had used data from the diary of a pedophile.^[33] Stockman believed that the allegations discredited current theories of sexual education in the United States, writing to his congressional colleagues that"[o]ur children have been taught that ... any type of sex is a valid outlet for their emotions. They are taught that the problem with sex is not that it is wrong to engage in homosexual, bestial, underage, or premarital sex, but that it is wrong to do so without protection."^[7]

In 1995 and 1996, Stockman was proud to have played a role in the federal government's shutdown.^[6] A 2010 Congressional Research Service report summarized other details of the 1995–1996 government shutdowns, indicating the shutdown impacted all sectors of the economy. Health and welfare services for military veterans were curtailed; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped disease surveillance; new clinical research patients were not accepted at the National Institutes of Health; and toxic waste cleanup at 609 sites was halted. Other impacts included: the closure of 368 National Park sites resulted in the loss of some seven million visitors; 200,000 applications for passports were not processed; and 20,000-30,000 applications by foreigners for visas went unprocessed each day; U.S. tourism and airline industries incurred millions of dollars in losses; more than 20% of federal contracts, representing $3.7 billion in spending, were affected adversely. The first of the two shutdowns caused the furlough of about 800,000 workers, while the second caused about 284,000 workers to be furloughed. They were said to have cost Stockman his reelection in 1996, and the Republican loss of seven seats in the House.^[34]

Committee assignments

Inter-congressional career (1997–2013)[

In 1998, Stockman ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Texas Railroad Commission.^[38]

Between 2005 and 2007, Stockman worked with the conservative Leadership Institute^[38] as director of its Campus Leadership Program.^[39]

In 2006, he attempted to run as an Independent candidate for Texas's 22nd congressional district, Tom DeLay's former seat, and even though he had enough signatures to qualify for ballot access, the Texas Secretary of State invalidated enough signatures to make him ineligible.^[40][41] Stockman registered for the special election to fill out the remainder of DeLay's term; he was one of five candidates.^[42] He finished third, with 10.75% of the vote.

During his time away from Congress, Stockman also cared for his father, who had Alzheimer's disease. The cost of caring for him drove Stockman to declare bankruptcy^[43] and, when his father's disease became too severe, Stockman moved him to a veterans' home. When his father died, Stockman decided to run for Congress in the 2012 elections.^[38]

U.S. House of Representatives (2013–2015)[

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Stockman_%289924706946%29.jpg)

Stockman at the 2013 Liberty Political Action Conference

Election[

In 2011 Stockman formed an exploratory committee, Friends of Steve Stockman, to consider a run for the 14th district seat being vacated by unsuccessful presidential candidate Ron Paul. Stockman instead ran in 2012 in the newly created 36th District. It included the Harris County portion of Friendswood, where Stockman's home was located. The district was drawn to be heavily Republican, and it was understood that whoever won the Republican primary would be the district's first congressman. In the May 29 primary, Stockman finished second in the first round, behind Stephen Vincent Takach, a financial planner. Takach finished with 22 percent of the vote, far short of the 50 percent threshold required to win.^[44] Stockman defeated Takach in the July 31 runoff 55%–45%, all but assuring his return to Congress after a 16-year absence.^[45]

In the November general election, Stockman defeated Democrat Max Owen Martin, a retired pilot from Clear Lake City, Texas, with 71% of the vote.^[46]

Tenure[

In 2013, Stockman was one of ten Republicans who did not vote for John Boehner (R-Ohio) for Speaker of the House; he was the only representative to vote "Present" as his protest vote.^[47][48]

Stockman opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2013, Stockman supported a government shutdown caused by Republican members of Congress who sought to block a continuing resolution that includes funding for the Affordable Care Act.^[49] Stockman's last-minute decision to challenge Cornyn in the Republican primary for Senate was "sparked in part by Cornyn's role in helping end" the federal shutdown.^[50]

In January 2013, Stockman introduced the "Safe Schools Act," a bill that would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. Stockman introduced the bill following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. He asserted that "By disarming qualified citizens and officials in schools we have created a dangerous situation for our children."^[51] The same month, Stockman issued a press release condemning gun control executive orders issued by President Barack Obama post-Sandy Hook, stating, "I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment."^[52]

In February 2013, Stockman voted against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, objecting to provisions in the bill that expanded protections for transgender victims of domestic violence. Stockman said, "This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers—it's called a women's act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that—how is that a woman?"^[38] That same month, Stockman also invited Ted Nugent, noted for his violent criticisms of Obama and other Democratic figures, to the 2013 State of the Union Address address.^[53]

On April 25, 2014, Stockman stated that the House Ethics Committee was investigating a campaign finance reporting error made by a former campaign worker. Stockman said the mistake was corrected soon after he learned of it, and that the worker had been removed from the campaign organization.^[54]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Congressional Constitution Caucus^[56]

2014 U.S. Senate election[

Main article: 2014 United States Senate election in Texas § Republican primary

On December 9, 2013, Stockman filed for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate for Texas against incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn.^[57][58] On December 31, Stockman visited Bitcoin Center NYC to raise money and became the first U.S. Senate candidate to officially accept campaign contributions in cryptocurrency.^[59]

Donald "Donny" Ferguson, the former executive director of Western Tradition Partnership/American Tradition Partnership (ATP) and manager of their Washington, D.C. office, resigned on 3 January 2013, as it continued to suffer adverse rulings in Montana courts over alleged campaign finance violations.^[60] Ferguson then became the congressional staffer and then U.S. Senate campaign spokesperson for Stockman.^[61]

On March 4, 2014, Stockman polled 250,759 votes (19.2 percent) in his bid for the Republican nomination for the Senate.^[62] He placed second in a field of eight candidates on the ballot. Cornyn received 778,967 votes (59.44 percent).^[63][64] On election night, Stockman quickly conceded and called upon Texas Republicans to vote the straight party ticket on November 4, 2014.^[65]

Meanwhile, Brian Babin won the seat for District 36 as Stockman did not contest this seat.

Criminal case[

In March 2017, Stockman was arrested for allegedly conspiring to use contributions designated for a charity to fund his campaign and for personal use, a felony, under 18 U.S.C. § 371.[citation ^needed]^

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in January 2013, Stockman requested and received $350,000 in donations from an unidentified businessman. Stockman allegedly solicited the money by using the name of Life Without Limits, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit intended to help people who have experienced traumatic events. The donation was allegedly intended to be used to renovate the Freedom House in Washington D.C.^[66]

Stockman was also charged with conspiracy to falsify statements when reporting contributions to try to launder the money.^[67][68]

The FBI alleged that at the time of the events in question, Stockman had no formal control of the Life Without Limits organization, but that he had opened multiple bank accounts under the name "Stephen E Stockman dba Life Without Limits." The FBI also alleged that financial records indicate that Stockman "made no significant expenditures toward the purchase, renovation, or operation of the 'Freedom House,' which was never opened."^[69]

Stockman conspired with Thomas Dodd, a former campaign worker and congressional special assistant. According to the Houston Chronicle, the alleged conspiracy involved attempts "to bilk conservative foundations out of at least $775,000 in donations meant for charitable purposes or voter education". Dodd was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Houston and, on March 20, 2017, he pleaded guilty.^[70][71] Dodd was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to pay a fine of $800,000.^[72]

Stockman staffer Jason Posey entered a guilty plea before Chief U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. He faced a prison term of up to 45 years and a fine of more than $4.8 million, plus hundreds of thousands more in restitution. Posey admitted that at Stockman's direction he and Dodd illegally funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from charitable foundations and individuals in charge of the foundations to pay for Stockman's campaigns and personal expenses. On April 2, 2019, Posey was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to pay a fine of $720,000.^[72]

On March 28, 2017, a federal grand jury issued a 28 count indictment that included 24 counts against Stockman. He was accused of obtaining $1.25 million under false pretenses and using the funds for his political campaigns.^[73] He was charged with eleven counts of money laundering, eight counts of mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to make "conduit contributions" and false statements (conspiracy to conceal the real source of the contributions by false attribution), two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, one count of making excessive contributions, and one count of willfully filing a false 2013 Federal income tax return by not reporting some of his income. Posey was charged with money laundering, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to make conduit contributions and false statements, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, making excessive contributions, and falsification of records.^[74][75] Due to its complexity and the need for time to review 142,378 pages of documents disclosed by the prosecution, a motion for postponement of Stockman's trial by his court-appointed attorney was granted. His trial began on January 29, 2018.^[76][77]

On April 12, 2018, Stockman was convicted by a jury on 23 of the 24 felony counts against him, for which he faced up to 20 years in prison for each count. He was acquitted on one count of wire fraud. Because he was judged to be a flight risk, he was remanded into custody pending sentencing,^[2][3] which was re-set for November 7, 2018.[

On November 7, 2018, he was sentenced to serve ten years in prison and ordered to pay $1,014,718.51 in restitution, to be followed by three years of supervised release.^[78] Stockman served his sentence at the low-security federal prison in Beaumont, Texas.^[79]

On December 22, 2020, Stockman's sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump and he was released from the Beaumont facility, serving only 2 years of his 10-year sentence. According to the White House, he will remain subject to a period of supervised release and an order requiring that he pay more than $1,000,000 in restitution.^[]

References

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Rep. Steve Stockman Partied With Dirty Tricks Operative Dimitri Kesari At CPACby Lee Stranahan | Mar 21, 2014 | Staffergate | 3 commentsRep. Steve Stockman Partied With Dirty Tricks Operative Dimitri Kesari At CPAC Photos taken at a CPAC party with Texas Rep. Steve Stockman drinking near a hot tub actually show another link in the chain that connects self-proclaimed ‘Tea Party Republicans’ like Stockman with election wrongdoing and establishment GOP figures like Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.The man standing next to Stockman is Dimitri Kesari and unless you’ve been closely following the #Staffergate story I’ve been reporting for several months, he’s probably nobody you’ve ever heard of.However, be on notice: there are currently not one but TWO grand juries looking into illegal election activity connected to Dimitri Kesari, so it’s a name you might want to remember. The “CPAC Hot Tub Party” becomes notorious, especially after Lachlan Markay put out two photos that show Stockman standing next to the hot tub with a drink in his hand…but few noticed that he was standing next to Dimitri Kesari.Share photos on twitter with TwitpicSource sends these pics, says they show Rep. Stockman drinking w/ YRs in aCPAC hotel bathtub http://t.co/AX5TWBBuLe http://t.co/vBwXvx52AP— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 10, 2014 (For a different take on Hot Tub Party, read this from Miss Ruth at Misfit Politics. Full disclosure: Miss Ruth gave me a brownie once.)This story involves connections between well-known people like McConnell and Stockman and the people behind the scenes that few people have heard of.Here’s a quick rundown of the Washington insiders connected to this:Dimitri Kesari: a GOP operative and the man in the photo; established connections to Stockman and McConnellDonny Ferguson: Stockman’s right hand man; was also involved in Montana political scandal connected to KesariEugene Delgaudio: Controversial politician and operative from Virginna, he dropped a big mailer during the Stockman primary campaign but didn’t reveal close ties to Donny Ferguson. Delgaudio is also very close to Kesari.Dan Backer : Attorney who was the campaign treasurer for Stockman; he also funneled Tea Party donor money to McConnell campaign.Who is Dimiti Kesari?As I wrote in my December, 2013 article #StafferGate, Steve Stockman, Donny Ferguson & The Montana Connection, Dimiti Kesari was one of the people behind the secret printing presses that were helping candidates, apparently in violation of election law. The Montana election malfeasance is major scandal in that state. Dimitri Kesari is a longtime political operative with extensive ties to both the National Right to Work Committee and the Ron Paul movement. Kesari has set up groups connected to both Paul’s Campaign for Liberty as well as affiliates of the NRTWC.So, how does this all Iowa activity relate to Texas Rep. Steve Stockman, his campaign manager / senior advisor Danny Ferguson, and the trouble in Montana?To understand that, you need to know about the secret printing presses that Dimitri Kesari is said to have set up in Iowa.The secret Iowa printing operation allowed Kesari to coordinate political mailings for candidates using voter lists that were targeted using surveys that had been conducted by, among other, groups connected to the National Right to Work Committee. Sources involved say that these mailings were done in Iowa ‘off the books’; not listed an expense as required by election law on the candidates expenditure records.Kesari was also at the center of another scandal in Iowa in 2011, where Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson was paid $100,000 to jump ship from the presidential campaign of Rep. Bachmann to that of Ron Paul.Part of that massive payment came in the form of a $25,000 checkwritten to Sorenson’s wife by a top Ron Paul staffer named Dimitri Kesari.

The Iowa ethics investigation reported included a photo of the check, which Sorenson had not cashed. Dimitri Kesari had written the check from the account of a jewelry business owned by Kesari’s wife. In this secretly recorded audio, Sorenson claims that Dimitri Kesari had written the check at a restaurant dinner and given it to Sorenson’s wife while Sorenson was using the restroom.Kesari was the deputy campaign manager for Ron Paul’s campaign at the time and it’s still unclear where he got the money to bribe Sorenson. Sorenson stepped down from office after an ethics reported revealed this info: more on that story here. Donny FergusonDonny FergusonKesari also has a connection to Stockman spokesman Donny Ferguson though Loundoun County, Virigina political fundraiser and performance artist Eugene Delgaudio. I wrote about Ferguson’s connection to Delgaudio in this story that was rejected by Breitbart Texas managing direct Brandon Darby.There’s another interesting connection to my dismissal by Darby: I was fired by Darby over research I was doing in Steve Stockman’s campaign treasurer Dan Backer and how he’d funneled money to Mitch McConnell AND Stockman’s primary opponent John Cornyn.Interestingly enough, Kersari was also paid $70,000 by Mitch McConnell’s campaign in 2013. The money went through a shell corporation called Hyllus that was tracked to Kersari by Open Secrets back in November:Kesari did not return emails about yesterday’s story or today’s findings. Jesse Benton, Ron Paul’s grandson-in-law who is running McConnell’s campaign, also did not return an email asking for comment.Besides the $61,954 paid by the McConnell campaign, the senator’s leadership PAC,Bluegrass Committee, also paid Hyllus $10,145 on Feb. 19 — the same day the campaign paid the firm $7,102. http://leestranahan.com/rep-steve-stockman-partied-with-dirty-tricks-operative-dimitri-kesari-at-cpac/DEVELOPING…YLeaked Email Reveals Stunningly Blunt Admissions About National Right To…Email Shows National Right To Work Committee’s “Gameplan” States For…Why Was This Video Linked To By Sen. Rand Paul…Exploiting The Tea Party: New Mailer From Dan Backer Connected…

JANUARY 30, 2014 6:49 PM IMPEACH OBAMA(The Blaze) – Just hours after he stormed out of President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced he’s considering filing articles of impeachment against the president.Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), right, participates in a mock swearing-in ceremony with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) (AP)“I’m considering filing Articles of Impeachment against Barack Obama,” Stockman announced on a website backing his senate run.FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW!“You see, I walked out of Obama’s State of the Union address last night,” Stockman’s announcement added. “Obama defiantly vowed not only to radically expand the reach of government from cradle to grave, but to smash the Constitution’s restrictions on government power while doing it.”The Texas congressman explained that he left the president’s speech early because he was upset after “hearing how the president is further abusing his Constitutional powers.”“I could not bear to watch as he continued to cross the clearly-defined boundaries of the Constitutional separation of powers,” Stockman said in a statement released shortly after the president finished his address. “Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed in the tone and content of tonight’s address.”Stockman accused the president of promising to “break his oath of office and begin enacting his own brand of law through executive decree.”“This is a wholesale violation of his oath of office and a disqualifying offense,” he said, adding that the president has steadfastly refused to admit “his policies have failed.”He continued, accusing the president of advocating a “blueprint for perpetual poverty.”Not long after releasing the anti-SOTU statement, Stockman raised the issue of impeachment.“Obama defiantly vowed not only to radically expand the reach of government from cradle to grave, but to smash the Constitution’s restrictions on government power while doing it. His goal is to eliminate our constitutional republic,” he said Wednesday. “Last year I said I would consider impeachment as a last resort to stop Obama’s abuse of power. And, quite frankly, we’re running out of options.”Stockman’s impeachment threat comes shortly after his return from an unexplained absence that kept him from voting in the House and campaigning against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).He claimed Monday that he wasn’t “missing in action,” but that he was busy partaking in a House-sanctioned international trip.However, the House Foreign Affairs Committee said that Stockman’s overseas trip began Jan. 17 and ended on Monday.

He didn’t cast a single vote between Jan. 9 and Jan. 28. Further, every other lawmaker on the international trip managed to participate in House votes prior to leaving the United States.The Texas congressman missed a total of 17 straight votes, including a vote to approve a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill.http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/29/first-he-walks-out-of-the-presidents-major-speech-now-hes-thinking-about-filing-articles-of-impeachment/- See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/rep-steve-stockman-threatens-impeach-obama-33837/#sthash.xvHrKe53.dpuf ---huh? Other mentors and funders of O'Keefe's prior endeavors: Ben Wetmore during their joint tenure at the Leadership Institute run by Morton Blackwell. Wetmore wrote (Lindsay Beyerstein found his cached blog): "'I was nearly fired, as was my boss [former] Cong. Steve Stockman, for buying the initial video equipment that James [O'Keefe] used,' Ben wrote last September. He seemed especially bitter that the LI hired and fired idealistic young conservatives capriciously. =bundy http://www.alternet.org/22-crazy-right-wing-delusions-about-absurd-cliven-bundy-stand “The BLM provoked, escalated this controversy.” Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, made this accusation, as have numerous others. If an armed resistance is put up against an asset seizure by law enforcement officials who are acting under a court order, the provocation is exclusively the work of those who have chosen to threaten the lawmen with violence.=Steve Stockman, the Lone Star state’s weirdest lawmaker, crashed and burned spectacularly in the Republican Senate primary this week, losing to incumbent John Cornyn by 41 percentage points in one of the strangest campaigns I’ve ever covered. He’ll soon be gone for good, having given up his relatively safe East Texas seat under the state’s campaign rules.And I couldn’t be happier. I hope to hell I’m done writing about Steve Stockman. When I last wrote about him for Politico Magazine, the Texas congressman had just declared he would challenge Cornyn, and people here were struggling to figure out why. Stockman, who submitted his papers to run about 15 minutes before the filing deadline, was a known quantity in Texas for his below-the-belt politicking and his vituperative, paranoid political style. Now he was in the process of reintroducing himself to a national audience, which no doubt saw Stockman’s mere presence in Texas public life a sign of deep statewide dysfunction.

Whether that’s true or not, he was crushed on Tuesday, winning only 19 percent of the vote to John Cornyn’s 60 percent. It was, in the end, a non-event.A lot of people I talked to issued unvarnished opinions about Stockman’s chances (none) and his persona (nuts). But they’d hedge their words when it came to a much more difficult question: Does he really believe what he says? Is he serious? “There’s a tendency among insiders [in Texas] to give Tea Party people credit for not really believing what they say,” Jason Stanford, an Austin-based Democratic political consultant, told me at the time. “Stockman’s candidacy will test the proposition.”Some, like Stanford, saw an ideologue who was deranged but essentially earnest in the major points of his worldview. Others, like one senior political reporter in Austin, thought you couldn’t say much of anything about Stockman’s motivations. He’d seen Stockman’s first term in Congress, from 1994 to 1996, and he’d watched how desperately Stockman had tried to get back into public office before he won a congressional seat again in 2012. He figured Stockman would stay in that seat as long as he could. But now he was essentially throwing it away. “You can’t talk about ‘reasons’ with a guy like that,” he said.Republicans I talked to—none would take up for Stockman, even in private—struck a different tone when asked, given the certainty of his humiliation at the hands of Cornyn’s political machine, why he would run. The common assumption was that he had to something to gain—in other words, that he was, on some level, not a fool but a slick operator. Some thought it was a simple debt retirement operation—his past campaigns had left him deep in the red—or that he was collecting statewide email addresses and voter information to sell or rent for his life after Congress. One congressional aide who got to know Stockman’s staff during his second term said they used to talk about how lucrative that particular line of business was. Stockman, after all, ran his first elections supported almost solely by a direct mail-order firm with a grudge against his opponent. He knows a good racket when he sees one. Now that Stockman’s been predictably crushed, what can we say about that question—was Stockman serious?

It’s a question worth asking in light of the other candidates who’ve invaded our airwaves recently—are they serious? Is Herman Cain serious? Is Donald Trump?***Stockman’s “seriousness” can be assessed in two stages. First, did he run a serious campaign? The answer, of course, is no. I don’t just mean that he spent his time hawking Obama barf bags. Stockman never made the slightest attempt to win. It couldn’t be called ineptitude or incompetence, because there was no effort. It was an un-campaign, an anti-campaign. It was the negative space where a campaign could have been. It may have been the worst political campaign ever conducted in the state of Texas. Setting money aside, here’s the first thing to do if you want to run as a conservative in Texas: talk to Tea Party groups. Stockman, whose politics tend towards the idiosyncratic “liberty wing” fringe, never had any real connection to these groups, but that shouldn’t have been a problem. Tea Partiers in Texas value charmingly old-school retail politics. If you come correct, they’ll listen. It’s how Ted Cruz first gained traction. Stockman didn’t do this. I don’t just mean that he reached out to too few Tea Party groups—I mean he never went to any, as far as I’m aware. It’s possible that Stockman never attended a single public event in his three-month campaign. No one can really say for sure because his campaign would never talk about it—at all. In January he was scheduled to address the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party, a particularly feisty group—the kind that would love to see an establishment, inside-game political player like Cornyn challenged. They accommodated Stockman’s request to hold a special meeting before the regular meeting, closed to the press, so that he could talk freely. He didn’t show. He had just been in Cairo, a surrogate said—one of a number of strange international absences—and he had been delayed by traffic on the drive from Houston to Fort Worth.

It was seemingly the last attempt Stockman made to show his face—anywhere.Online, though, it was a different story. Stockman’s social media accounts told frequent and grandiose lies, including many, many variations of the refrain “Cornyn voted for Obamacare.” His Twitter account, long a bedrock of his appeal (to journalists, anyway) shifted into even-higher gear. Run by his spokesman Donny Ferguson, it became a constant stream of invective. Another constant feature: He would tout months-old tepid statements from activists as full-throated endorsements. His website featured a list of past or implied endorsements, many from groups that didn’t back his Senate run. There were too many other oddities to go into: In February, he sued a Cornyn-affiliated group for libel over their mention of a past felony charge for drug possession that he, himself, had admitted. He spent New Year’s Eve in Manhattan helping to open a Bitcoin exchange. A fake newspaper sliming Cornyn, “The Conservative News,” was sent to mailboxes all over Texaswith language taken verbatim from Stockman’s campaign website. Stockman said he’d had nothing to do with it—but it was issued by a group, Center for the American Future, whose website was registered by Jason Posey, a Stockman long-timer who was fired in 2013 in the wake of campaign finance violations. (The “group’s” website proclaims the newsletters’ independence from any candidate, telling visitors to check back for the “Alaska edition.” We’ll see.)

There’s another part to the question of “seriousness.” Did Stockman’s people believe earnestly in anything they were saying? Or were they, for lack of a better phrase, just fucking around?We’re unlikely to hear from Stockman on that, but one clue comes from his spokesman, Ferguson. In the early part of the campaign, Ferguson’s Twitter account consisted of a mix of red-meat bumper-sticker slogans, plagiarized Twitter jokes and spin on behalf of his boss. As time went on, things started to go off the rails and the barest pretense that Stockman’s people were trying—or even trying to appear professional—dropped. The bad jokes multiplied. He’d tweet references to the cult British comic character, Alan Partridge, stills from the movie Idiocracy and which schlocky 60’s B-movie he was watching at the current moment. Ultimately it became difficult to tell how much work he was really capable of doing on behalf of his candidate. With that, plus a number of pivotal state Senate elections won by the Tea Party, the whole chamber, once a check on the legislature’s most stridently conservative measures, appears set to swerve far, far to the right. It would be a shift with consequences for the whole country. Yet much of the national media, on primary night, transfixed by Stockman the clown, wrote that moderates had beaten back their far-right challengers. Candidates like Stockman are like crack cocaine for the media, which—and I’m certainly including myself here—love a colorful, easy story almost as much as they love eccentric antagonists. But they’re bad for voters too. They’re bad for their party. And they corrode trust and respect in the democratic system. (And we are by no means experiencing a surfeit of either right now.) I hope I never have to write about Steve Stockman again after his congressional term ends in January—God knows what he’ll get up to between now and then, as a lame duck representative with nothing to lose—but I know there’ll be others like him. For some, politics is a racket that’s too good to pass up.Christopher Hooks is a politics writer for the Texas Observer based in Austin. Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/03/steve-stockman-texas-good-riddance-104428.html#ixzz32qn7bSfC For a brief period in February, for reasons known only to God and the Stockman campaign, Ferguson took the rhetorical mud cannon it was firing at Cornyn and directed it, instead, at Slate reporter Dave Weigel.

Weigel had emailed Ferguson to ask where Stockman would be campaigning—Ferguson replied that the campaign was “not interested.” Weigel quoted Ferguson, and wrote, accurately, that the campaign wasn’t providing information to reporters. He later released correspondence that confirms his version of the interaction. Ferguson accused Weigel of lying and misrepresenting his words. He wrote that Slate was less credible than a college newspaper, and accused Weigel of “intentionally faking a quote.” The campaign raised money off the incident, telling supporters Stockman was being mau-maued by the lamestream media, and that Weigel, a pro-Cornyn plant, had gone “berserk.” Just a day later, I tweeted Ferguson about the incident. His demeanor had changed completely. “I still like Dave Weigel,” he wrote. “The man knows his Simpsons.”In a way, it foreshadowed the end of Stockman’s pitiful campaign. Early on election night, March 4, media outlets called the race for Cornyn. He had avoided a runoff in an eight-way race.For three months, Stockman had slimed Cornyn, from dawn till dusk. He lied about the senator’s record and intentions. He Photoshopped him into uncomfortable positions—into flannel pajamas, and into the arms of the president. He sought not just to defeat him but to destroy him and his reputation. When the race was called, it dissipated instantly. He tweeted: “We wish Senator Cornyn best of luck in November and urge everyone to vote for, volunteer for and support the whole Texas GOP ticket. #family” So, Stockman wasn’t serious—in any way that a candidate could be serious. He wasn’t a serious contender, he wasn’t a serious campaigner and he wasn’t, it seems likely, honest about his intentions or the authenticity of his public persona. Now, having accumulated donations to his campaign purse (as of Feb. 21, he had more than $56,000 in cash on hand, and he couldn’t have spent much in the last two weeks) a few more FEC complaints to contend with and a few more enemies, he’ll be leaving Congress again in January—although, it should be said, the last time Stockman left public office he spent the next 16 years trying to get back. Not even being named an unindicted co-conspirator in a prescription pad fraud ring slowed his relentless drive back toward the limelight.***Was all of this entertaining?

Absolutely. But why must we, as citizens, be constantly beset by figures like Steve Stockman? They seem to be a permanent feature of our elections now—figures like Alan Keyes, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Donald Trump, joke quasi-candidates whose mere presence sucks up precious oxygen from the democratic process, riding civic institutions to (relative) fortune and (relative) fame. Trump uses the presidential nominating process to feed his unconstrained ego and sense of relevance; Keyes, Gingrich and Cain have all used their failed runs to cash out, selling information about their supporters and trading renown for paid media gigs. Why are we giving these jokers airtime? The Steve Stockman Show obscured much that was of real importance this cycle. His doomed race drew the lion’s share of national media attention of all the state’s primaries, despite the fact that Texas is in the middle of a critical shift with potentially enormous consequences. For all the talk about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, the most intriguing dynamic is on the Republican side: State Sen. Dan Patrick, a radio talk show host from Houston, appears the favorite to win the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. That office leads the Senate, and Patrick has promised to destroy a number of important Senate conventions that foster bipartisanship if he wins. ... Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/03/steve-stockman-texas-good-riddance-104428.html#ixzz32qm9r84p

Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Steve StockmanDeirdre WalshPosted byCNN Senior Congressional Producer Deirdre WalshWashington (CNN) – The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman's campaign committee violated federal reporting requirements. Stockman revealed the development in a written statement released by his office on Friday. "My office is aware of and is cooperating fully with the Ethics Committee’s preliminary inquiry into an FEC reporting error," Stockman said, adding that he expected the matter ultimately to be dismissed. The independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) conducted a preliminary review of the matter and decided it merited further investigation by the ethics panel. The House Ethics Committee has not made any official announcement about its investigation into Stockman, but a report from OCE last week indicated the committee faces a deadline over the weekend for publicly acknowledging how it plans to proceed on a review of one House member. The conservative Texas Congressman, who has ties to tea party groups, decided to challenge GOP Senator John Cornyn and not run for re-election in the House, but he lost to Cornyn in the primary. Given the slow pace of ethics investigations it's unlikely that any official review will be completed before Stockman finishes his up his term and leaves the House. In his statement Stockman blamed the error on an accountant who was a "campaign volunteer" and said he removed the person from that position and shut down the campaign committee. He said that because he took early action he was not fined, and noted that since the OCE was created in 2008 over 40 other members for Congress were fined by the FEC for similar reporting violations, including then-Sen. Barack Obama.==senate site: If not us, who?

If not now, when? "We have a President who over and over again openly, aggessively defies the law. If he doesn't like the law, he refuses to enforce it or simply proclaims it changed." -- Senator Ted Cruz It is with heavy heart that I announce that I am considering a Resolution to Impeach the President of the United States, Barrack Hussein Obama. I do this without glee or partisan rancor, but rather in obedience to the Oath I took to defend and uphold the Constitution. This will only succeed if I have hundreds of thousands standing with me. You have the power to determine the future of our constitutional republic. Please let me know if you will stand with me to impeach the President. Please fill out the survey, consider a contribution and leave a comment. - See more at: http://stockman2014.com/#sthash.YQaBqEEE.dpuf

Steve Stockman, R-Texas, is ditching his existing — and troubled — campaign committee as he wages a long-shot bid to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a Republican primary.Federal records show Stockman on Dec. 30 registered a new committee,Steve Stockman for Senate, naming conservative lawyer Dan Backer its treasurer. Stockman's other campaign committee, the still-operational Friends of Congressman Steve Stockman, is mired in $163,000 worth of debt,federal records show.Furthermore, the old committee has amended its federal campaign finance disclosures 35 times since 2012 to correct various errors or irregularities, federal records show, including amendments attempting to explain whether it received money from a pair of Stockman's congressional staffers. Such donations aren't legal.Then, on Dec. 20, Federal Election Commission Campaign Finance Analyst Ryan Furmaninformed the committee it had accepted "contributions that appear to exceed the limits" of federal law.An article by the Houston Chronicle in November details numerous other Stockman campaign finance problems.Backer, treasurer of the Steve Stockman for Senate committee, referred questions to Stockman's campaign staff. In an email to the Center for Public Integrity, Stockman spokesman Donny Ferguson wrote that the two Stockman committees "are two distinct legal entities serving different purposes, with different teams and vendors involved." He continued: "It just made more sense to have separate committees so the House committee could wind down as the Senate committee winds up."Typically, House candidates who run for Senate seats just repurpose their existing campaign committees. But there's nothing in the law that stops Stockman from starting another one.Still, Stockman faces restrictions. Donors who've contributed the legal maximum this election cycle to Friends of Congressman Steve Stockman are prohibited by law from donating to the Steve Stockman for Senate committee, said Paul S. Ryan, senior counsel at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.If Stockman were to raise surplus money following his Senate campaign, he could, however, legally transfer that cash to his old committee to pay down its debts, Ryan added."He's had a lot of campaign finance drama going on," Ryan said. "So from a PR perspective, this allows him to tell donors who might be concerned about that, 'Hey, I've got a new team. Hey, I have a clean slate. Have no fear.'" Stockman recently announced his campaign would begin accepting bitcoins — an online currency — although the FEC in November deadlocked on whether campaign committees may do so. Backer, Stockman's treasurer, brought the bitcoin case to the FEC.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-steve-stockman-doesnt-scare-the-establishment/comment-page-1/==blog:GOP Poll: John Cornyn destroys tea party challenger Steve StockmanDecember 16, 2013By AnomalyRep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is going to have the sads. Texas Sen. John Cornyn starts out his 2014 primary fight a whopping 44 points ahead of his most prominent conservative challenger, Rep. Steve Stockman, according to private GOP polling obtained. 44 points is huge. But what’s even more interesting is that Stockman considers Cornyn to be a ‘liberal.’ The survey conducted by the Republican firm Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, shows Cornyn held a wide advantage over Stockman, leading 50 percent to 6 percent. According to Politico, Other candidates took 5 percent of the vote, and 39 percent of those surveyed were undecided. Ted Cruz’s name is becoming toxic. Cornyn was highly critical of Ted Cruz so Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced one week ago that he’ll challenge Cornyn, citing the way the senator “treated his fellow congressmen” as his main reason for joining the race. Stockman said, “We are extremely disappointed in the way [Cornyn] treated his fellow congressmen and broke the 11th commandment and undermined Ted Cruz’s fight to stop Obamacare. We think he needs to be held accountable for his decisions.” Stockman went a step further and tagged Cornyn as a ‘liberal’ for his opposition go Ted Cruz. He said in an email last week, “Dear patriot, You are in a foxhole fighting to save our constitutional Republic… …and the last thing you need is a Republican bayonet in your back. But that’s what liberal John Cornyn has been doing to you every day.” And now, Cornyn is ahead by such a huge margin, even a ‘liberal’ couldn’t catch up to him. Politico reports: Stockman spokesman Donny Ferguson said in an email that the poll is “bad news for liberal John Cornyn,” arguing that it proves “Texans aren’t happy with Cornyn’s record.” “Cornyn has been in office for over a decade, has spent tens of millions of dollars promoting himself and half of the party doesn’t want him back. Cornyn has nowhere to go but down,” Ferguson said.” We have three months to make our case, and then another three months in a runoff.”

Cornyn campaign spokesman Drew Brandewie countered that Cornyn has a solidly conservative record that he will be touting in the campaign.“One thing Texans respect is a man who says what he means and does what he says. Senator Cornyn is proud of his strong conservative record and will continue to work hard to earn the support of Texans,” Brandewie said. How is this poll bad news for Cornyn exactly? Stockman had $32,000 in his campaign account at the end of September. Cornyn has some $7 million on hand.===Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman has invited the rodeo clown who caused a stir this week when he mocked President Barack Obama during an act at the Missouri State Fair to come perform in Texas, saying the negative reaction to the act amount to “liberals … targeting this man for personal destruction.”In the act, during the bull riding competition, the clown wore an Obama mask and the dialogue suggested Obama get run over by a bull. Politicians on both sides of the aisle condemned the performance and the clown was permanently banned from the Missouri State Fair. Future clowns performing at the State Fair will be required to undergo sensitivity training.[re-education"]But Stockman, never one to shy away from controversy, said attacking the clown was attacking free speech and invited him to perform in Texas. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/14/stockman-invites-controversial-rodeo-clown-to-texas/#ixzz2c42RBO00

bs Committee AssignmentsHouse Committee on Foreign Affairs * Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations * Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology * Vice-Chair, Subcommittee on Research and Science Education * Subcommittee on Space and AeronauticsCaucuses (partial list)Bipartisan Congressional Prayer Caucus Manufacturing Caucus Natural Gas Caucus PORTS Caucus House Aerospace Caucus Property Rights Action Caucus Science and National Labs Caucus Second Amendment Task Force Western Caucus==Rep. Broun Encourages Members to Join the Property Rights Action Caucus and to View a CEI Report on Eminent Domain Washington, Mar 16, 2010 - The Property Rights Action Caucus is centered around the fundamental and basic right to private property. The mission of the Caucus is to help educate elected officials and the public on the importance of property rights and to defend these rights from further erosion. As John Adams stated, “Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist.” Our liberties are only as secure as our property rights. As a caucus, we will examine all issues of physical and intellectual property including eminent domain, federal government property ownership, downloading of multimedia, the Endangered Species Act, patent reform, pharmaceutical issues, compulsory licensing, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

===http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/steve-stockman-earth-oil-tweets-gop-congressman_n_2933964.html?view=print&comm_ref=false Steve Stockman, GOP Congressman, Says Best Thing About Earth Is Oil (TWEET)The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-Smith Posted: 03/22/2013 4:21 pm EDT | Updated: 03/22/2013 4:37 pm EDT Rep. Steve Stockman recently sent out a tweet saying the best thing about Earth is the oil that comes out of it.A Republican politician known for making controversial statements may have just raised the bar with a Tweet about global oil and gas consumption.On Thursday, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) sent out a tweet stating the best thing about Earth is its oil.The politician continued to focus much of his online energy targeting environmentalists and liberals, who he claims hate oil, gas and science.While Stockman's "Best thing about the Earth" tweet was quickly parodied online, MSNBC notes that this is far from the most outrageous thing the Texan, who serves on the Science, Space and Technology Committee, has said.What saved whales from extinction? Oil drilling. The oil industry has literally done more to save species than Greenpeace.There is reportedly $1 trillion in oil off the coast of California. But liberal hatred of science and human progress keeps them bankruptIn the past, the congressman has claimed that the “Violence Against Women Act” was a bad bill that helps “men dressed up as women.” He has also claimed that former President Bill Clinton staged the bloody Waco raid in order to gain support for an assault weapons ban. And in 2009, Stockman called global warming a "new fad thing."In an opinion piece on the Austin Statesman, the editorial board once quipped that the politician "rarely met a fact he’s willing to support."Stockman "seems to relish the role of provocateur," Salon's Alex Seitz-Wald notes, and he may even be positioning himself to become "a new Michele Bachmann — someone equally loved on the far right and loathed on the left."

Our campaign bumper sticker: If babies had guns, they wouldn't be aborted. http://stockman2014.com #gosnell #tcot pic.twitter.com/CVaYrQAeK9Stockman recently invited all gun owners and manufacturers who feel “unwanted” and “persecuted” by their states’ gun control policies to move to Texas. He extended that invitation one day after Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) signed a comprehensive gun control package into law.

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Stephen Ernest "Steve" Stockman (born November 14, 1956) is an American politician who has been the United States Representative for Texas's 36th congressional district since 2013. A Republican, Stockman previously served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 9th congressional district from 1995 to 1997.= Contents [hide] 1 Early life, education, and business career2 U.S. House of Representatives (1995–1997)2.1 Elections2.2 Tenure2.3 Committee assignments3 Inter-congressional career (1997—2013)3.1 1998 election for Railroad Commissioner3.2 2006 congressional election4 U.S. House of Representatives (2013—Present)4.1 2012 election4.2 Tenure4.3 Committee assignments5 References6 External links Early life, education, and business career[edit] Stockman was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; outside Detroit. He graduated from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. From 1985 to 1986, he attended San Jacinto College. In 1990, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.[citation needed] He was homeless until he became a born again Christian.[3] He worked as an accountant in the computer sales and lab researcher division of IBM.[citation needed]U.S. House of Representatives (1995–1997)[edit] Elections[edit] 1990He first ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 against Democratic U.S. Representative Jack Brooks. Beaumont, Texas mayor Maury Meyers ranked first in the Republican primary with 45% of the vote, but failed to reach the 50% threshold. Stockman, who earned 41% of the vote, faced Meyers in a run-off.[4] Meyers defeated Stockman 61%-39%.[5] In the general election, Meyers lost to Brooks, 58%-42%.[6]1992Stockman ran again in 1992. This time, he was unopposed in the primary. Brooks defeated him 54%-43%.[7]1994He ran again in the Republican 1994 election cycle. He had two challengers in the primary, but won with 73% of the vote.[8] In the general election, he defeated 42-year incumbent Brooks 52%-46%.[9]1996The 1996 general election for Texas's 9th Congressional District was unusual. After the normal primaries had been held, the district boundaries of the 18th, 29th, and 30th districts were struck down as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in Bush v. Vera, necessitating redistricting of the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th, and 30th Districts.[10] Because the redistricting was held after the normal primaries, those results were discarded and new votes for these districts were held as special elections; open to all candidates without a primary, and requiring a majority to win the seat outright.[citation needed]These elections were held concurrently with the November general election for other elective positions. Stockman ranked first with 46%, but needed 50% to win outright. He faced Jefferson County assessor Nick Lampson, a member of the Democratic Party, in the runoff election.[11] Lampson won the runoff election 53%-47%.[12]Tenure[edit] During Stockman's time in Congress, the district represented Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, and part of Harris counties, including portions of metropolitan Houston.A Houston Chronicle article reminds that "Stockman’s two years in Congress were marked by weirdness, such as an article in Guns & Ammo magazine that appeared under his byline in which he suggested the then-new Clinton administration raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco on April 19, 1993, to justify a ban on assault weapons.[13] Stockman said, in reports from the Associated Press in May 1995, that he stood by his article, which was published after the bombing on April 19, 1995, of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.[citation needed] A couple of weeks after he defended the article, he told the Associated Press that he regretted writing it, mostly for its timing.[citation needed] On the day the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed, just four months into Stockman's term, there was confusion over a fax sent to Stockman’s office.[citation needed] The FBI became involved.[citation needed] In a news conference in Beaumont in April 1995, Stockman identified the sender as a former Orange County, Texas Republican chairwoman who had ties to the Michigan militia.[citation needed] The fax was sent to several members of Congress after reports of the bombing came over television.[citation needed] Stockman was the only member to alert the FBI.[citation needed] Stockman also antagonized House Speaker Newt Gingrich by opposing the U.S. bailout of the Mexican peso.[14]Committee assignments[