{"id":294,"date":"2017-12-01T11:23:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T16:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=294"},"modified":"2018-03-01T11:26:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T16:26:04","slug":"gop-congressman-secretly-paid-84000-in-taxpayer-money-to-settle-sexual-harassment-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=294","title":{"rendered":"GOP congressman secretly paid $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment suit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Kerry Eleveld<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Friday Dec 01, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Congressman<\/div>
GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas used $84,000 in taxpayer money from an obscure\u00a0government\u00a0account\u00a0to settle a harassment claim brought against him by his former spokeswoman. The sum became the subject of speculation after GOP Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi revealed in a private meeting that only one sitting member of Congress had used the Office of Compliance account\u00a0to settle a sexual harassment claim. Politico\u00a0writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Lauren Greene, the Texas Republican\u2019s former communications director, sued her boss in December 2014 over allegations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.<\/p>\n

Greene claimed in the lawsuit that another Farenthold aide told her the lawmaker had \u201csexual fantasies\u201d and \u201cwet dreams\u201d about Greene. She also claimed that Farenthold \u201cregularly drank to excess\u201d and told her in February 2014 that he was \u201cestranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she complained about comments Farenthold and a male staffer made to her, Greene said the congressman improperly fired her. She filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, but the case was later dropped after both parties reached a private settlement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Farenthold released a statement saying he could \u201cneither confirm nor deny\u201d the report because he was prohibited from doing so by the\u00a0Congressional Accountability Act (sounds like that\u2019s a bit of a misnomer.)<\/p>\n

Greene worked as a Farenthold staffer for 18 months. Her\u00a0lawyer wouldn\u2019t confirm Greene was the $84,000 recipient\u00a0either, but did give Politico access to a joint statement the two\u00a0penned but never actually released following a\u00a0settlement they came to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201c[A]fter it became clear that further litigating this case would come at great expense to all involved \u2014 including the taxpayers \u2014 the parties engaged in mediation with a court-appointed mediator,\u201d the statement read. \u201cAfter extensive discussion and consideration, the parties jointly agreed to accept the solution proposed by the mediator.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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The statement added: \u201cThe parties believe that the mediator\u2019s solution saves the parties, and the taxpayers, significant sums that would be expended in further discovery and\/or trial.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Got that\u2014$84,000 worth of savings.\u00a0Thanks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kerry Eleveld Friday Dec 01, 2017 GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas used $84,000 in taxpayer money from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-family"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-01_11-24-32.jpg?fit=814%2C546&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-4K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":919,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=919","url_meta":{"origin":294,"position":0},"title":"U.S. Lawmaker Meehan Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Claim","author":"Donnie","date":"April 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Reuters\u00a0\u00a0April 27, 2018 WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan, who used taxpayer money to settle a former staffer's sexual harassment claim, resigned on Friday from the House of Representatives and said he would repay the U.S. Treasury. 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