Remember back in November of 2017 when it was reported that 264 congressional staffers had been paid $17 million, courtesy of the American taxpayers, to shut them up because they were sexually harassed by our elected Representatives and Senators? We were assured at the time that full disclosure was forthcoming and that the American people would learn the identities of the 200+ harassers, which would be followed by a landslide of swamp critter resignations. Well, not so much.
Here we are, months later, and to date we only know of four Representatives and one Senator who have been outed for allegedly slimy behavior on the taxpayer dime. Unless the American people stay good and mad about this issue, we are unlikely to learn many additional identities of these cads. It appears that the fix is in and “The Swamp” has an unofficial agreement in place to protect itself from the voters. The fact that the media is not covering this story 24/7 tells us exactly which party a majority of the harassers belong to.
This should have been the biggest scandal of the year and yet, here is everything we know to date.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is the only Senator to be outed for his lecherous, touch-feely behavior so far. A half-dozen women accused him of groping them and otherwise trying to force himself on them in an incredibly awkward, fumbling manner that only a true loser is capable of.
There was even photographic evidence of Franken groping broadcaster Leeann Tweeden while she was asleep on a flight. Given that Franken’s Senate seat was allegedly stolen by massive ballot box-stuffing in 2008, it’s fitting that he is no longer in the Senate. However, there is no indication that Franken ever paid any taxpayer hush-money to his victims. So, we can’t even count Franken toward the list of congress-critters who paid off 264 victims.
In the House, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) has been outed for paying a former staffer $84,000 from the hush money slush fund. Farenthold’s former communications director sued him for harassment. She won the case and the taxpayers footed the bill. Farenthold denies any wrongdoing and has not stepped down, but he announced that he won’t be running for reelection in 2018.
Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV) described himself as the first ‘Dreamer’ to be elected to the US Congress. How fitting! It turns out that Kihuen’s dreams consisted of allegedly touching the inner thighs of a female campaign staffer without her permission. Kihuen refused to resign but has stated he won’t run for reelection this fall. Since he is accused of harassing a campaign staffer, before he was elected, no hush money was paid to the victim.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) paid at least one staffer $27,000 in taxpayer money over allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward her in a repeated and non-stop fashion. Another half-dozen women came forward with allegations that they had either seen Conyers harassing, groping and making advances toward female staffers or had been directly in his line of fire. Not to worry, though. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) says that Conyers is a champion of women!
Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) is the latest to have reports surface that he used the secret slush fund to pay off a staffer who he had sexually harassed. Meehan only compounded his problem by following the advice of political consultants who told him to “get out in front of” the blooming scandal.
Meehan gave nine separate interviews to Philadelphia media outlets over the weekend and… his career is over. Let’s just say his interview prep wasn’t quite where it should have been. Given that Meehan has a conservative scorecard of 34 percent (F), he’ll be no great loss to the conservative cause.
That’s it.
That’s everything we know about what should have been a bigger scandal than the fake Russian collusion narrative. Only three of the five politicians listed above used taxpayer funds to hush up their victims. Who are the other 200+ Representatives and Senators, and why don’t we know their identities and how much of our money they each paid to cover up their behavior?
Congressman Gregg Harper (R-MS) has introduced a bill that will require full disclosure of the use of taxpayer funds to pay off sexual harassment victims in the future. HR 4822 is currently languishing in four separate committees and it is unlikely to see any movement this year. Even if the bill were to be passed and signed into law, it would only guarantee disclosure on future sexual harassment settlements.
To be clear: Every Representative and Senator who sexually harassed a staffer and then paid them off with taxpayer money should be disclosed to the American people, so the voters can decide whether to keep them in office. If we continue down the current path and allow Congress to remain silent about this scandal, it will only hurt Republicans in the future.
Media outlets will dig and dig and keep digging to expose Republicans, while ignoring or hiding all evidence of Democrat harassers. Congressional leaders may have declared a truce with each other on this issue, but that will be a one-sided affair (no pun intended) because the media will continue to hammer Republicans — just as it did with Rep. Meehan.
Americans should be demanding full disclosure of every congressional harasser, because after all — it’s our money being used to cover it up!
~ American Liberty Report
