GOP Congressman Uses Your Money To Settle Sexual Harassment Case

With so much focus on the RNC and the GOP and the Fat Bastard working to elect a pedophile to the Senate, we may have missed the story of Texas … because of course … Republican Congressman Blake Farenthold who used taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment claim brought by Lauren Greene, his former spokesman.

Greene sued Farenthold in December 2014 over allegations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. She claims another Farenthold aide told her the congressman said he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about Greene; she also maintains that Farenthold “regularly drank to excess” and told her in February 2014 that he was “estranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years.”

But when Lauren complained about those kinds of comments, Farenthold fired her, and filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia; she dropped her case when Farenthold offered a cash settlement.

So where did Farenthold get the money to pay off his accuser? Perhaps from a little-known congressional account from the Office of Compliance.

House Administration Committee Chairman Gregg Harper revealed to GOP lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that only one House office in the past five years had used that account to settle a sexual harassment complaint, and that the settlement totaled $84,000.

Farenthold would neither confirm or deny that his office was responsible for that $84,000 payout:

“While I 100% support more transparency with respect to claims against members of Congress, I can neither confirm nor deny that settlement involved my office as the Congressional Accountability Act prohibits me from answering that question.”

Wait, how’s that for doublespeak? He supports transparency but won’t answer a question?

In a joint statement both Greene and Farenthold prepared at the time of the settlement but never released, both parties confirmed they reached a deal in part to save taxpayer dollars.

Except they didn’t because that little-known account is taxpayer monies.

Look at us, we pay their huge salaries and we allow them to work a few days a year, give them free health insurance and now we’re paying settlements in sexual harassment cases?

If only there was something we could ….

VOTE.THEM.OUT!

In an update, Blake Farenthold says he promises to pay back taxpayers for those funds from a special congressional account that he used to pay that harassment settlement. He says he "didn't do anything wrong" but would "do my best" to repay the settlement fee sometime this week, this time taking out a personal loan instead. 

Farenthold, who used $84,000 from that congressional account is allegedly worth $2.4 million.

Just sayin’.

Politico