Are ALL ultra-conservative Republican state legislators child rapists?Last week I professed bewilderment as to why Ohio state Rep and rising star Wes Goodman-- heir apparent to Jim Jordan-- faced political erasure after he was caught having consensual sex with another adult male in his district office. If Republicans fired every officeholder guilty of gross hypocrisy, there would be virtually no Republican officeholders left. Sure, Goodman, was a hypocrite for living in the closet while wracking up an anti-LGBT record but there are dozens of Republicans in the same boat, including Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), David Young (R-IA), to name a few prominent ones. But Ohio Republicans didn't force Goodman to quit over the hypocrisy. Fondling a supporter's teenage son without the kid's consent is a much bigger deal.Over the weekend, the backstory came tumbling out of Goodman's closet: this was no one-time faux pas-- he led secret gay life, made unwelcome advances to younger men. Jackie Borchardt reporting: "In public, Wesley Goodman was an up-and-coming conservative who championed pro-family and anti-LGBT causes and aspired to someday run for Congress. In private, he exchanged salacious texts and emails with gay men he met on Capitol Hill, and sent sexually suggestive messages to young men he met through conservative circles who were too intimidated to publicly complain, according to three people who knew him when he worked in Washington." It wasn't just the "inappropriate behavior" he was just outed for.
The married, 33-year-old was elected to the 87th district seat in 2016 after working for the Conservative Action Project, a network of economic, social and national security conservatives. He previously worked for conservative U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican....Another conservative with Ohio ties told cleveland.com that Goodman engaged in predatory behavior toward younger men after leaving Jordan's office, sending inappropriate material and propositioning them via text message and Facebook messenger.The conservative operative said he'd target college kids who wanted to have him as a mentor and were scared to report his sexual advances because they didn't want to damage their own careers. A former co-worker shared screenshots of messages Goodman sent him that the operative likened to the lewd texts that derailed the congressional career of New York's Anthony Weiner."It was suggestive 'I am here in my underwear' kinds of stuff," the longtime GOP operative recalled.Goodman was seen as a rising conservative star and a good networker who could help young people get jobs in conservative organizations, the Republican activist said."People never really wanted to come forward against someone in power," the operative added.On Friday, the Washington Post published an account that described a 2015 incident where Goodman was accused of inviting the teenaged son of a Republican donor to his bedroom in a Ritz Carlton hotel. The young man awoke in the middle of the night to find Goodman pulling down the zipper of his pants, and ran from the room in a panic at around 4 a.m., according to the account in the Post.According to the Post, the incident triggered Goodman's departure from a conservative group called the Council for National Policy, whose president, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, urged Goodman not to run for public office and severed ties with him upon learning of his state legislative campaign.Goodman had served as managing director of an offshoot of Perkins' group that was formed to counter President Obama's agenda, such as the Affordable Care Act.Another former GOP congressional staffer, Chris Donnelly, told cleveland.com that Goodman replied to a Craigslist post on a board for men seeking men, and the two had a sexual encounter in 2008. In a response shown to cleveland.com, an email account using the name Brady Murphey described himself as a "straight/curious" guy who needed to be discreet."Maybe we can hang and see what's up, no expectations really," the response said. "But your post seemed cool so let me know bro."Donnelly said Goodman was "all over Craigslist" and responded to several ads posted by Donnelly and other gay men."It became a running joke between me and my gay friends on Capitol Hill," Donnelly said. "It's not like it was some one-off thing."Hadlock and Donnelly reached out to cleveland.com because they were disappointed Goodman would push anti-LGBT policies while secretly seeking out and being intimate with other men.Donnelly said the last time he saw Goodman was at a conservative event in 2009. Goodman was there with Jordan to urge support for the congressman's D.C. Defense of Marriage Act, which would have overturned a local law allowing recognition of same-sex marriages. Goodman was handling the issue for Jordan, Donnelly said.
This morning Caleb Hull, who Goodman had unsuccessfully tried to seduce, rounded up 30 sources attesting to Goodman's predatory sexual behavior. He interviewed over 2 dozen men "who experienced Goodman's inappropriate behavior, and their stories almost all start the same way. Goodman began his inquiries with college students as if he wanted to be a friend, asking what they wanted for their careers. The victims were almost always political activists who simply had mutual friends with Goodman. He would then escalate the conversation, often sending several messages a day. Eventually, the conversation would move past small talk, and Goodman would start sending suggestive messages." This is part of an interview from one of the sources describing how Goodman tried seducing a young straight conservative:
"He also repeatedly invited me up to Ohio so I could job shadow him and tour the Ohio Capital. Then in November 2016, one night, he started a conservation about how his wife was asleep and he was bored. I didn't reply for about 30 min after opening the Snapchat. Then, he sent me videos of him masturbating as well as d**k pics. He also sent another Snapchat asking how big my penis was. I immediately blocked him. He later [messaged] me on both Instagram and Facebook leading me to block him on both apps as well."
These were from some the chats he was having with teenage conservative boys:He also sent boys pictures of his penis, always talked about penis size (a common trait among conservative closet cases who are absolutely always obsessed about penis size) and talked one teenage boy into sharing his hotel room at an event and, while the boy slept, unzipped his fly and started playing with his penis.Fredo Trump doesn't spend all his time shooting elephants and plotting with Russian spiesNow, think back a few months to Oklahoma state Senator Ralph Shortey, head of Trump's Oklahoma operation, who's caught and charged for soliciting prostitution of a minor; prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church (my favorite charge for Oklahoma Republicans); and transporting a minor for the purpose of prostitution. And the minor was a 17 year old boy. Shortey was forced to resign from the state Senate and in July, Oklahoma voters replaced him in a special election-- with Michael Brooks-Jimenez, now the only Hispanic Democratic state Senator in Oklahoma. A very Republican district, Shortey's former constituents rejected the GOP 55-45%. An update to the story was reported Saturday for The Oklahoman: Shortey agreed to plead guilty to a child sex trafficking offense. "In exchange for his guilty plea, U.S. prosecutors have agreed to drop three child pornography counts against him. His jury trial had been set to begin Dec. 5 in Oklahoma City federal court. He is now scheduled to plead guilty Nov. 30 instead. By making a deal, Shortey, 35, hopes to avoid being locked up for most of the rest of his life. Still, he will be required to serve at least a 10-year prison term, the mandatory minimum time for child sex trafficking. The maximum time for the offense is life in prison. U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGiusti will decide the punishment at a sentencing next year."This is what happens when people decide to spend a life living a lie in the closet instead of embracing their own nature. Living in the closet drives men insane and they do crazy things, like Shortey and Goodman did.
Shortey, R-Oklahoma City, was first elected in 2010 and was known for his offbeat legislative proposals that at times attracted national attention. He resigned March 22.Shortey-- who once planned to be a missionary-- was investigated first by Moore police and then the FBI after being found with the teenager at the Super 8 in Moore about 1 a.m. March 9.The teenager's girlfriend had followed them to the hotel after seeing Shortey pick him up. She then alerted the teenager's father who called police.Police reported Shortey and the victim had carried on a conversation about sex using the messaging app Kik before going to the hotel. Their conversation had turned graphic when the teenager wrote, "I need money for spring break," according to police.Shortey had replied, "I don't really have any legitimate things I need help with right now. Would you be interested in 'sexual' stuff?" The teenager then wrote, "Yes," according to police.Officers reported finding an open box of condoms in Shortey's backpack and a bottle of lotion in the teenager's backpack.The victim "confirmed that he and Shortey intended to have sexual contact and that they had agreed Shortey would pay him for the contact," an FBI agent reported in a court affidavit. Both beds were described as unmade.The two had met a year before through a Craigslist ad.The investigation of Shortey uncovered evidence he had led a secret life. The FBI reported he used fake names to post Craigslist ads seeking sex with young males and on an email account to send and receive pornography."Shortey used those pseudonyms almost exclusively for illicit and illegal sexual interests or encounters, several of which included communications and exchanges of pornography with underage males, and/or the sharing of child pornography," the FBI agent wrote in the court affidavit.A federal grand jury indicted Shortey in September.He was accused in the child sex trafficking count of knowingly recruiting the underage male to engage in a commercial sex act.He was accused in one of the child pornography counts of persuading that teenager to send him an inappropriate photo in 2016. He was accused in the other child pornography counts of emailing sexually explicit videos to two individuals in October 2013.The plea agreement calls for federal prosecutors to ask the judge at sentencing to dismiss the child pornography counts. Also, according to the deal, Shortey "will not be further prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma for any crimes related to his transportation, possession or production of child pornography or child sex trafficking during the period from October 2013 through March 9, 2017."Shortey had also faced a child prostitution charge in Cleveland County District Court. That felony case was dismissed after he was indicted in federal court.