Tag Archives: Bryan Slaton

local news

Far-right PAC sullies race

As if voters of a North Texas legislative district need an extra push to elect a far-right winger to the state House of Representatives.

But, by gum, that’s what is happening in the House District 2 campaign to find a successor to a right-wing extremist legislator whom the House expelled after he was caught having sex with an underage staffer in Austin.

Former state Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City got the boot from the Legislature. Voters in HD 2 are choosing someone to succeed him. Enter onto the stage Defend Texas Liberty, a far-right PAC whose former leader, Nick Fuentes, was seen in the company of a white supremacist.

Defend Texas Liberty is sinking its talons into the race by pumping cash into the campaign of Brent Money. The PAC also reportedly has tossed money at Jill Dutton, Money’s major Republican foe.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Nick Fuentes states openly that he ‘will destroy the GOP,’” Dutton campaign spokesperson Matt Brownfield said in a statement. “In that respect, he shares the same objective as Defend Texas Liberty PAC, who has spent millions of dollars attacking conservative Republicans like Jill Dutton and Greg Abbott. 

You may count me as one American patriot who simply detests these far-right extremists. They ought to take their poison elsewhere and not infect so many of Texas’s already conservative legislative districts. House District 2 voters seemingly would need little to push them to the far-right fringes of political thought.

Defend Texas Liberty gets involved in race to replace Bryan Slaton | The Texas Tribune

Since the focus of Defend Texas Liberty centers on Money and Dutton, perhaps four other hopefuls can sneak their way to the front the pack. The other Republicans in the contest are Heath Hyde, Doug Roszhart and Krista Schild. Democrat, Kirsten Washington, is also running.

Hey, one can hope.

local news

Why no remorse?

There likely isn’t a good reason to ask this question of a disgraced former Texas state legislator, but I’ll ask it anyway.

Is Bryan Slaton a dyed-in-the-wool sociopath? 

Here’s the deal. Slaton, a Royse City Republican, was caught having sex with an intern. He filled her with alcohol and then had his way with her in his apartment in Austin. The House General Investigations Committee got wind of it, examined the allegation, and then recommended his expulsion from the Texas House.

Slaton testified before the committee and according to sources on the scene, he expressed zero remorse, contrition or offered nothing resembling an apology for his hideous action. He resigned his House seat, but the House expelled him anyway in a unanimous vote.

Isn’t that the behavior of a sociopath?

Contrast that with the reaction that came from another Republican politician, former U.S. Rep. Van Taylor of Plano. Taylor was running for re-election 2022 when it was revealed he had an affair with a woman who once was married to an Islamic State officer.

When word of his misbehavior got out, Taylor issued a statement calling his action the “worst decision I ever have made.” He apologized to his wife and children and then backed out of his re-election campaign.

Taylor at least had the good sense and appropriate contrition to apologize to everyone involved.

Not so with Slaton, who ran for election and re-election as a “Christian conservative” dedicated to the family values espoused by the Republican Party.

He’s nothing more than a sociopathic chump.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Santos could survive expulsion effort

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia put in on the table with these words: “I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House. … Rep. George Santos be, and hereby is, expelled from the House of Representatives.”

Simple, yes? Santos is the liar who lied his way to winning public office. He also is under indictment for mail fraud and wire fraud.

Santos lied about virtually every aspect of his personal, educational and professional life while campaigning in 2022.  He duped the voters his New York district to elect the Republican.

Yes, he deserves to be booted out. It’s complicated. Why?

Because the Republicans hold a slim majority in the House; Santos represents a district that is traditionally Democratic. Speaker Kevin McCarthy needs Santos’s vote to advance MAGA Republicans’ agenda.

Compare that with what happened earlier this month in Texas, where state House members voted unanimously to kick GOP state Rep.  Bryan Slaton of Royse City out of the House.

The Republicans in Texas have a significant majority in the House. There is no political price for the GOP to pay for booting someone out of a safe Republican seat.

The GOP is walking a fine line in Washington. Thus, a vote to kick a serial liar out of the House — I am sad to report — appears doomed.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Slaton: GOP poster boy

Bryan Slaton is the newest poster boy for Republican Party hypocrisy, the type that allows pols to preach about family values while living a life that steers far, far away from such righteousness.

Slaton is the newly expelled member of the Texas House of Representatives. He hails from Royse City, just down the road from me in North Texas.

He campaigned for the office in 2020 claiming to be a champion against those who “groom” underage girls for sexual conduct.

Oops! What happened to Slaton? He got caught having sex with a 19-year-old intern at his Austin apartment; he also filled her with booze. All the while, this moron sought to preach about the family values he said he held dear to his heart.

The Texas Tribune reported: Slaton resigned Monday and was expelled from the House by a unanimous vote Tuesday, but his hypocrisy has cast a harsher light on Republican-led efforts to crack down on supposedly grooming-related activities, including drag performances, gender-affirming care for transgender minors and classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Bryan Slaton’s downfall could complicate GOP fight against “groomers” | The Texas Tribune

The Texas GOP surely needs to re-examine its message and the people it uses to convey that message to voters.

Politicians such as Slaton, those who get caught doing something far from the message they are preaching, deserve to be excoriated and condemned in the harshest terms possible. Slaton’s expulsion vote, which was unanimous in the House, serves as a graphic reminder of the penalty that awaits those who fail to live as they demand of others.

Whether the message that Republicans want to convey remains viable in the wake of Slaton’s lying and marital infidelity is to be determined.

My own advice for the GOP would be to lose the anti-grooming mantra. Every Republican who invokes the message will bring Bryan Slaton to the minds of those hear it.

That is not a good fit.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

House boots Slaton

OK, it was a symbolic vote, given that a disgraced Texas legislator had resigned his office a day earlier, but it is a welcome signal that the Texas Legislature won’t stand for the kind of conduct on which it was voting.

The state House voted 147 to zero to boot former Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Royse City Republican from its ranks. The House needed a two-thirds vote to expel one of its members. Boy howdy, it got what it needed!

Slaton had sex with an underage staffer in his Austin apartment, getting the young woman too drunk to fend off any advances. The House Government Investigations Committee recommended expulsion for the second-term lawmaker.

Well, he’s gone now. I’m glad of it, given his extreme hypocrisy in boasting that he is a “family values, Christian conservative” politician.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

 

local news

Slaton quits House … good riddance!

Bryan Slaton, who was about to be expelled by his colleagues in the Texas House of Representatives, has decided to spare himself the humiliation of being booted out of office.

He quit the office on his own!

Slaton, a Royse City Republican, had been investigated for having sex with an intern after serving her alcohol. A House committee had recommended he be expelled from the House, which was set to vote Tuesday on whether to throw his sorry backside out of the place. There still might be a vote, even though Slaton’s gone from the body.

Well, the second-term legislator is done embarrassing the House in which he served, the state that must live by the laws he endorses and his constituents who sent him to the House to do their bidding … which did not include boorish behavior.

This self-proclaimed Christian conservative, a married man who said with no appreciation for the irony he expressed about he now gets to “spend time with my young family,” has disgraced himself.

State Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, said this on social media: “His resignation gave no apology to the young woman he violated, his wife whom he betrayed or his district that he failed. No remorse. No acceptance of responsibility. He’s the victim that rides off into the sunset. That was the resignation of a narcissist.”

Good riddance!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

NE Texas rep faces expulsion

Bryan Slaton, arguably one of the more incendiary members of the Texas House of Representatives, is facing the seriously real prospect of being kicked out of the House.

You see, Slaton — a Royse City Republican and one of the most ardent social conservatives ever elected to the House — has been recommended for expulsion because he reportedly had sex with an underage staff member after serving her alcohol.

The Texas Tribune reports: A scathing report by the House General Investigating Committee, distributed to House shortly after noon Saturday, found Slaton did not dispute allegations that he had sex with the 19-year-old woman and provided alcohol to her, nor did he express regret or remorse for his conduct. Instead, the report said, Slaton’s lawyer argued the complaints should be dismissed because the behavior occurred in Slaton’s Austin residence, not the workplace.

Texas House committee recommends expulsion of Rep. Bryan Slaton | The Texas Tribune

Here is what makes this matter so, um, astonishing: Slaton is a former youth minister for a Christian church, where he presumably preached the importance and sanctity of family values.

Did I mention that Slaton is married? There. I just did.

A vote by the full House could come as early as Tuesday and Slaton isn’t getting any help from his Republican colleagues in the House of Reps. In Hunt County, the GOP chair has said Slaton needs to go. I keep hearing of Republican legislative colleagues expressing shame and disgust at the party’s stain delivered by Slaton’s conduct.

Yep, it looks to me as if Bryan Slaton is headed for a one-way walk out of the Texas House of Representatives. Does it bother me? Not even a little bit!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Is this guy in deep doo-doo?

A conservative Republican state legislator who happens to hail from North Texas might be in a heap of trouble, which requires Texas House ethics investigators to get to the truth behind some deeply troubling accusations.

Bryan Slaton of Royse City has been accused of having sex with a legislative intern, a woman with whom he had been flirting.

I don’t know the truth behind any of it; I know only what I read in the Texas Tribune and other outlets.

Slaton — who’s been married since 2017 — is one of those deeply conservative GOP lawmakers who touts family values, morality and rails against so-called “woke” policies. The accusation is troubling in the extreme. It has been corroborated by those in the know, according to the Tribune.

Staffer alleged that state Rep. Bryan Slaton had sex with Capitol intern | The Texas Tribune

Two House Republicans, Briscoe Cain and Steve Toth, have called for Slaton to resign, along with Democratic Rep. Anna-Maria Ramos. I won’t wade into that mess.

I do believe, though, that it is imperative for the House General Investigating Committee to get and stay busy on this issue until it determines whether it’s true.

This clearly is a matter, given Slaton’s outspoken public views on character and moral clarity, that will not go away.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, political news, State news

Rep. Slaton makes early impact

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Oh, brother.

I commented earlier on this blog about my respect for Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger, the Amarillo Republican whom Texas Monthly has identified as one of seven legislators to watch during the current Texas Legislature.

Well, TM also has ID’d a bold, brash and bodacious freshman lawmaker, a young man I know only casually, but who is — shall we say — also worth watching for an entirely different set of reasons.

State Rep. Bryan Slaton is another Republican. He hails from Royse City, just a bit east-southeast of where I now live. TM calls him The Fearless Freshman. Why? He is unafraid to make a name for himself for reasons that run quite counter to my own political world view.

Slaton got elected this past year, defeating longtime fellow conservative state Rep. Dan Flynn. I was aghast that he would run “to the right” of Flynn, but he did.

What does the young man do when he arrives in Austin for the start of the Legislature? He pitches a bill that would criminalize the act of a woman obtaining an abortion; she would, in Flynn’s eyes, be guilty of “murder” and would be subject to the state’s death penalty if she is tried and convicted of murder.

Texas Monthly wrote this about Slaton: A principled hard-right conservative and Gen Xer, Slaton is stepping into the void left by former representative Jonathan Stickland, a Bedford Republican who made his reputation as a troublemaker and thorn in the side of his party’s establishment. Slaton says he is focused on advancing social-conservative priorities, including eliminating abortion (by passing a law declaring the Roe v. Wade unconstitutional) and protecting historical monuments (by requiring a two-thirds vote to remove one of, say, a Confederate general, from a state university). 

Seven Texas Lawmakers to Watch – Texas Monthly

He also seems to believe that Texas can secede — again! — from the United States of America. Hasn’t anyone told him (a) that secession is illegal and (b) that the first time Texas did it in 1861, it didn’t work out well for Texas — or for the rest of the Confederate States of America?

My only visit with Slaton was over the phone. We had a cordial conversation. I was working on a story I wrote for KETR-FM, the public radio station affiliated with Texas A&M University-Commerce. I hope to be able to talk to him in the future as needs arise.

However, I must be candid. If he flies off the rails and starts yapping about secession, or protecting monuments honoring Confederate traitors or sentencing women in trouble to the death chamber, well … it could get ugly. In a big hurry.