Ken Paxton is dirty? NO FUCKING WAY!

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Perhaps it’s difficult to collect legal judgements against the AG, but this is in retaliation of the whistleblower act. I don’t see how the state and AG can just not pay a judgement that they’re not even fighting. Can the state judicial branch order the exec branch to pay up? Which budget pays for it, is the exec branch’s problem.

It's because of sovereign immunity.  In a normal application of sovereign immunity, the lawsuit doesn't even go forward.

But because this cause of action (whistleblower act) specifically "targets" government employees and agents and agencies in their official capacity, there is an implied waiver that lets the suit go forward.  I think it also permits recovery of those damages specified by the Act without legislative approval.** Those remedies being primarily reinstatement and back pay.

But, the plaintiffs here are alleging other things, where the Act might not support those damages.  So, to be extra clear about it, they sought legislative approval/appropriation for the settlement, whether strictly necessary or not.

**ETA:  the Act, https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.554.htm, places damage limitations of 250k per claim for other than past lost wages and damages.  That is, anything much beyond back pay.

Edited January 20 by TwiceHorn

[tx 3 putt 76,863]

 

 

[wreckatx 141]

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

It's because of sovereign immunity.  In a normal application of sovereign immunity, the lawsuit doesn't even go forward.

But because this cause of action (whistleblower act) specifically "targets" government employees and agents and agencies in their official capacity, there is an implied waiver that lets the suit go forward.  I think it also permits recovery of those damages specified by the Act without legislative approval.**

But, the plaintiffs here are alleging other things, where the Act might not support those damages.  So, to be extra clear about it, they sought legislative approval/appropriation for the settlement, whether strictly necessary or not.

**ETA:  the Act, https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.554.htm, places damage limitations of 250k per claim for other than past lost wages and damages.

This is incorrect. The whistleblower act provides an explicit, limited waiver of sovereign immunity to allow govt employees that are fired because they report crimes by other govt employees to sue their employing agency for lost wages, reinstatement or front pay, and attorney’s fees. However, the government code requires legislative approval approval of any settlement with or judgment against a state agency that is in excess of $250k.

A judge cannot order the executive branch to pay, or the legislature to approve payment of, a judgment against the state because of separation of powers. The decision whether to approve payment is vested strictly in the legislature.

[That Guy 955]

[South Austin 52,439]

See you all February 1 at Cain & Skarnulis. I’ll bring the chips.

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

Probably worth pointing out that while Paxton's answer to the petition purports not to contest the allegations thereof, that is only really relevant perhaps at summary judgment or trial.  Until then, it's business as usual.  If a party wants to conduct discovery before moving for summary judgment or taking the victory at trial they presumably can do so.

There is a separate rule/procedure for "confessing judgment" in Rule 314.

[That Guy 955]

So what happens when Paxton doesn’t show on 2/1?

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

15 minutes ago, That Guy said:

So what happens when Paxton doesn’t show on 2/1?

The fact that there is now a court order setting the date and time for appearance moves the deal closer to punitive monetary sanctions and contempt (including jail time, but unlikely) in addition to the more usual remedy of costs/expenses/attorneys fees associated with the non-appearance.

The usual sanctions for discovery abuse are, roughly in this order with each continued violation:  1) an order to appear at a date and time not necessarily convenient and payment of any costs associated with prior failure to appear; 2) further payment of costs associated with non-appearance and a punitive fine this time under the rubric of "contempt of court" because it violated a court order; 3) striking of pleadings or defenses, more monetary sanctions, and, rarely, jail until discovery obligations satisfied.

This kind of short-circuits item 1 and puts it squarely in contempt of court because of the court order.  However, because it's not the ascending/descending "scale" of contumacious behavior, he's going to get another "strike" or two before serious shit is on the table.

Edited January 21 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

1 hour ago, wreckatx said:

This is incorrect. The whistleblower act provides an explicit, limited waiver of sovereign immunity to allow govt employees that are fired because they report crimes by other govt employees to sue their employing agency for lost wages, reinstatement or front pay, and attorney’s fees. However, the government code requires legislative approval approval of any settlement with or judgment against a state agency that is in excess of $250k.

A judge cannot order the executive branch to pay, or the legislature to approve payment of, a judgment against the state because of separation of powers. The decision whether to approve payment is vested strictly in the legislature.

Yeah, I didn't keep reading far enough until after I hit post.

Is the $250k set out somewhere or just what takes it out of the waivers of this and the tort claims act, thus putting it squarely in immunity territory where there's nothing without legislative consent?  You mentioned the govt code, but both this and the TTCA have $250k limitations and TTCA higher.

I don't deal with this stuff very often, learn it on occasion and promptly forget it again except the obvious things like TTCA.

Edited January 21 by TwiceHorn

[HRSchenker 2,268]

Why are they not going after Grant Dorfman? They made a really big deal at their press conference saying he lied during the impeachment about the whistleblowers approaching them with a settlement offer first. 

[wreckatx 141]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Yeah, I didn't keep reading far enough until after I hit post.

Is the $250k set out somewhere or just what takes it out of the waivers of this and the tort claims act, thus putting it squarely in immunity territory where there's nothing without legislative consent?  You mentioned the govt code, but both this and the TTCA have $250k limitations and TTCA higher.

I don't deal with this stuff very often, learn it on occasion and promptly forget it again except the obvious things like TTCA.

I misspoke. The requirement that the legislature approve settlements or judgments against the state in excess of $250k is in the general appropriations act. All kinds of judgements and settlements over this threshold are routinely approved by the legislature every session. It was really unusual that the Lege didn’t approve the whistleblowers settlement last session.

[Biff Tannen 45,661]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

including jail time, but unlikely

Why unlikely?  Would it be unlikely if it were just some Joe Schmo?

[YGIFS 19,449]

22 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

Why are they not going after Grant Dorfman? They made a really big deal at their press conference saying he lied during the impeachment about the whistleblowers approaching them with a settlement offer first. 

Because Dorfman's a legacy.  Like his son Fred after him.  And Fred's younger brother, Kent after him.  You can't touch families like that, they're too entrenched.  Ask Marmalard, he'll tell you.

[Dnaguy 11,916]

6 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Why unlikely?  Would it be unlikely if it were just some Joe Schmo?

Well if definitely if the judge is one of those lib antisemitic judges.

I mean, Schmo. His name is a little bagel and cream cheesy 

[Cap33 384]

59 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

Why are they not going after Grant Dorfman? They made a really big deal at their press conference saying he lied during the impeachment about the whistleblowers approaching them with a settlement offer first. 

That was all after the plaintiffs were fired, and they're focusing on discovery relating to their termination. It could come up later as they're proving up damages, but Dorfman prob is not a priority. Side note: I've met Dorfman several times, and my impression is that he's a nice enough guy but not that smart. 

[South Austin 52,439]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

Because Dorfman's a legacy.  Like his son Fred after him. 

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

2 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Why unlikely?  Would it be unlikely if it were just some Joe Schmo?

Yes.  Texas district judges just don't seem to use that jailing aspect of their contempt power in discovery problems very often.  I have heard, apocryphally, of people sitting in jail until interrogatories were answered, which was less than a day.  And it's not jail jail, it's usually a holding cell in the civil courts building removed from the county jail.

Alex Jones was about as abusive with respect to discovery as anyone I have heard of and he didn't get thowed in jail.  He got death-penalty sanctions, and that is far more common.  And it wasn't because he was Alex Jones.

One thing is, there is civil contempt, where a person can be jailed until whatever their problem is is solved, such as paying a fine or answering discovery.  That is known as coercive contempt.  That's easy enough to do.

If you want to throw someone in jail for punitive reasons, alone, there has to be a quasi-criminal proceeding with a charge and a due-process hearing before it happens and that's a monstrous pain in the ass.

It's much easier for the judge and everyone else to effectively terminate the litigation of an abusive litigant.

Edited January 21 by TwiceHorn

[DigglerontheHoof 21,169]

IOW, if you have money, consequences aren't much to worry about.  It's such a great system we have. 

[YGIFS 19,449]

35 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

IOW, if you have money, consequences aren't much to worry about.  It's such a great system we have. 

That’s the conundrum of Ken’s situation.  He doesn’t have that much of his own money anymore. What if he using was ill-gotten and dried up years ago

[That Guy 955]

Can you use campaign funds to pay monetary sanctions?

Asking for a dickhead. 

[South Austin 52,439]

4 minutes ago, That Guy said:

Can you use campaign funds to pay monetary sanctions?

Yes, and for new kitchen cabinets.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

On 1/20/2024 at 10:00 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Alex Jones was about as abusive with respect to discovery as anyone I have heard of and he didn't get thowed in jail.  He got death-penalty sanctions, and that is far more common.  And it wasn't because he was Alex Jones.

I rather like this typo-created accidentally coined word. Rather striking image of a corpulent red-faced bellicose man being thrown and towed by the collar to jail. Too bad he was sanctioned instead.

[Cap33 384]

I'm starting to think putting him in a holding cell until he completes his depo is in play. Monetary sanctions aren't going to faze him one bit. Neither would the threat of a death penalty sanction -- he's already said he won't put on a defense, so what good does it do to threaten to take it away? The voters in Travis County aren't going to vote out a judge who's trying to get a lawless litigant to comply with her order. And Kenny Boy would probably fundraise the shit out of that situation. 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,413]

1 hour ago, That Guy said:

Can you use campaign funds to pay monetary sanctions?

Asking for a dickhead. 

1. Open ChatGPT and type "Write a MAGA book. 10 chapters. Use 8th grade grammar"

2. Find some shady outfit to publish the book and pay you a 50% royalty. 

3. Have your campaign buy all copies of the book with campaign funds and give them away to doners. 

4. Use your "royalties" to pay the sanctions. 

[sheeeit 129]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:33 PM, YGIFS said:

Paxton's sudden embrace of the minutiae of hospital policy is curious, if not disturbing.  

And "where I'm going with this."???   I'll tell you.  On 2 January, I'm in a caravan of trucks (hint, hint---the logo is a horse) with a half dozen women to New Mexico to receive medical care.  We should have the funding in place for their lodging secured by end of this week, Christmas at the latest.  I'll deadhead back and they can get bus or train tickets back from same pool of funds.  Nobody's gonna stop our trucks, not in pro-business Texas.  When they've recovered and rested, they can travel back at their convenience. 

I'm tempted to send photos of the trucks crossing the border to Paxton and Patrick as a "fuck you", but it would just draw unnecessary attention to the drivers who are trying to do a solid.  

Saw the thread bump.  Was curious if anything ever happened here.

[YGIFS 19,449]

We transported a few with no issue.  I didn’t personally go.  But they ended up taking 3 or 4.  Drop in the bucket.  But cool thing was one driver who had a mom and daughter with him said he chatted with some dudes at a fuel station out west and that guy was Doing the same thing.  Ladies were inside using the restroom.  Texas won’t stop commerce.  I’ll post some other details with anonymity later.  

[Eskimohorn 5,630]

1. Open ChatGPT and type "Write a MAGA book. 10 chapters. Use 8th grade grammar"
2. Find some shady outfit to publish the book and pay you a 50% royalty. 
3. Have your campaign buy all copies of the book with campaign funds and give them away to doners. 
4. Use your "royalties" to pay the sanctions. 

8th grade grammar?

[Pescado_Rojo 19,413]

2 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

8th grade grammar?

too advanced? 

[sheeeit 129]

49 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

We transported a few with no issue.  I didn’t personally go.  But they ended up taking 3 or 4.  Drop in the bucket.  But cool thing was one driver who had a mom and daughter with him said he chatted with some dudes at a fuel station out west and that guy was Doing the same thing.  Ladies were inside using the restroom.  Texas won’t stop commerce.  I’ll post some other details with anonymity later.  

hmmm.  interesting

[YGIFS 19,449]

Obviously this kinda thing isn’t needed right now.  But I enjoy the rush of being part of the beta test in case shit goes sideways.  They won’t stop our trucks and I have it in writing from a few county commissioners out that way whom pledged otherwise.  
 

as for the $500 gift cards placed in the glovebox of some of those cabs to give to the scared women for food and hotels (their medical bills are on them for obvious reasons), I wouldn’t know anything about that.  The fucked next fucked up thing to sweat though is when Texas starts monitoring online communication or does an undercover/sting deal.  That’s not just Lobo internet hyperbole, it’s just what’s next so they can toss some red meat to their base.  

[sheeeit 129]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

Obviously this kinda thing isn’t needed right now.  But I enjoy the rush of being part of the beta test in case shit goes sideways.  They won’t stop our trucks and I have it in writing from a few county commissioners out that way whom pledged otherwise.  
 

as for the $500 gift cards placed in the glovebox of some of those cabs to give to the scared women for food and hotels (their medical bills are on them for obvious reasons), I wouldn’t know anything about that.  The fucked next fucked up thing to sweat though is when Texas starts monitoring online communication or does an undercover/sting deal.  That’s not just Lobo internet hyperbole, it’s just what’s next so they can toss some red meat to their base.  

You have county commissioners putting in writing that they will not stop trucks delivering women to New Mexico for abortions?  Are you sure this "beta test" isn't just in your head?

[YGIFS 19,449]

Recorded phone calls for the most part.  But a Lubbock office did sent us a transit letter although I lied a bit to them on the underlying premise.  It’s a start, is my point 

Edited January 22 by YGIFS

[Chad Fuck 17,658]

Recorded phone calls for the most part.  But a Lubbock office did sent us a transit letter although I lied a bit to them on the underlying premise.  It’s a start, is my point 

Fucking A we have to have Maquis right here in the US of A in 2024.

Where do we sign up?

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,792]

12 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

IOW, if you have money, consequences aren't much to worry about.  It's such a great system we have. 

It's fucking infuriating 

[TwiceHorn 31,435]

12 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

I rather like this typo-created accidentally coined word. Rather striking image of a corpulent red-faced bellicose man being thrown and towed by the collar to jail. Too bad he was sanctioned instead.

It was intentional.  You ain't heard of no one gettin thowed in jail?

[Hornius Emeritus 12,449]

What Texan has never heard the word "thowed?" 

[bolverk 29,648]

11 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

What Texan has never heard the word "thowed?" 

Conceived in Houston, born in Dallas, raised in West Texas, living in Austin. I've lived all but about 1 1/2 of my 52 years in this state and have never knowingly heard it.

[tx 3 putt 76,863]

8 hours ago, sheeeit said:

hmmm.  interesting

the avg maga supporter has never read a book in their life  

[Hornius Emeritus 12,449]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

Conceived in Houston, born in Dallas, raised in West Texas, living in Austin. I've lived all but about 1 1/2 of my 52 years in this state and have never knowingly heard it.

That's simply incredible to me, considering how many times I've heard it.

[safe sex 11,696]

Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal

Quote

In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.

“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”

Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.

"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."

The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.

In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.

The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.

Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.

Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.

During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.

Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.

Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.

 

In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.

“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”

Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.

"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."

The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.

In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.

The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.

Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.

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Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.

During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.

Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.

Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.

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If he wins his House race, Woodfill has said he will run for House Speaker against Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who Woodfill has accused of working with Democrats to suppress conservative voices and attack Paxton.

Pressler, 93, is one of the most influential evangelical figures of the last half-century for his key role in the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” during which he helped push the nation’s second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, align more closely with the Republican Party, ban women from preaching and strongly condemn homosexuality. Before that, Pressler represented Houston in the Texas House and served for 14 years as an Appeals Court judge, and his endorsement has for years been sought by evangelical political candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Pressler’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

'Tip of the iceberg'

A copy of the aide’s email was filed in Harris County district court last year as part of a massive lawsuit in which a former member of Pressler’s church youth group, Duane Rollins, accused Pressler of decades of rape beginning when Rollins was 14. Rollins also alleged that other defendants — including Woodfill, the Southern Baptist Convention and Pressler’s longtime church, First Baptist Church of Houston — of enabling or concealing Pressler’s behavior.

The lawsuit was settled late last year under confidential terms, and following six years of court fights that prompted six other men to come forward with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct by Pressler. The lawsuit was also the impetus for a major newspaper investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC.

The aide’s 2017 email was filed in court records not long before the case was scheduled to go to trial. In it, the aide — who was attending Houston Baptist University at the time — detailed a pattern of predatory behavior before imploring Pressler’s daughters and wife to cut off his access to young men.

“For as long as I can tell, Paul has fostered inappropriately close relationships to the young men who work for him,” wrote the aide, who the Tribune is not naming. “I have both heard stories of and personally witnessed Paul getting young men who work for him to give him full-body massages, with all present parties in the nude. Especially recently, a young man’s willingness to perform this act seems to be the main reason he hires them.”

The aide then detailed two recent incidents that he said were “just the tip of the iceberg.” Days before he sent the email, the aide wrote, Pressler had bragged about being in a hot tub naked with three boys under the age of 10 and their father.

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Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal
Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape.

BY ROBERT DOWNEN
JAN. 23, 2024
7 HOURS AGO
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Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.
Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: Courtesy of Steve Gonzales/The Houston Chronicle
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In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.

“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”

Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.

"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."

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The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.

In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.

The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.

Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.

Get our biggest scoops and breaking stories, delivered to your inbox
Breaking News Alerts newsletter
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Your email address
Browse all newsletters at texastribune.org/newsletters.

Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.

During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.

Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.

Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.

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If he wins his House race, Woodfill has said he will run for House Speaker against Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who Woodfill has accused of working with Democrats to suppress conservative voices and attack Paxton.

Pressler, 93, is one of the most influential evangelical figures of the last half-century for his key role in the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” during which he helped push the nation’s second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, align more closely with the Republican Party, ban women from preaching and strongly condemn homosexuality. Before that, Pressler represented Houston in the Texas House and served for 14 years as an Appeals Court judge, and his endorsement has for years been sought by evangelical political candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Pressler’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

'Tip of the iceberg'
A copy of the aide’s email was filed in Harris County district court last year as part of a massive lawsuit in which a former member of Pressler’s church youth group, Duane Rollins, accused Pressler of decades of rape beginning when Rollins was 14. Rollins also alleged that other defendants — including Woodfill, the Southern Baptist Convention and Pressler’s longtime church, First Baptist Church of Houston — of enabling or concealing Pressler’s behavior.

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The lawsuit was settled late last year under confidential terms, and following six years of court fights that prompted six other men to come forward with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct by Pressler. The lawsuit was also the impetus for a major newspaper investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC.

The aide’s 2017 email was filed in court records not long before the case was scheduled to go to trial. In it, the aide — who was attending Houston Baptist University at the time — detailed a pattern of predatory behavior before imploring Pressler’s daughters and wife to cut off his access to young men.

“For as long as I can tell, Paul has fostered inappropriately close relationships to the young men who work for him,” wrote the aide, who the Tribune is not naming. “I have both heard stories of and personally witnessed Paul getting young men who work for him to give him full-body massages, with all present parties in the nude. Especially recently, a young man’s willingness to perform this act seems to be the main reason he hires them.”

The aide then detailed two recent incidents that he said were “just the tip of the iceberg.” Days before he sent the email, the aide wrote, Pressler had bragged about being in a hot tub naked with three boys under the age of 10 and their father.

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“After bragging about this hot tub experience, Paul told me ‘you seriously need to get over your phobia of taking off your clothes with me,’ “ the aide wrote. “Paul then went on to say that ‘if the young boys were okay with getting naked in the hot tub with me then so you [sic] should be ok with it also.’ “

The day before the aide penned the letter, he said he was repeatedly caressed by Pressler, who told him that “I really need this.” At the time, they were on their way to pick up a 20-year-old man who was nearly homeless and had called Pressler for help, the aide wrote.

The three of them then went to dinner, where Pressler offered the young man $100 for a massage before suggesting they both do so naked, the aide wrote. Presser also repeatedly kissed the young man, the aide wrote

They then went back to Pressler’s home, and Pressler took the young man into a locked room. When they emerged, Pressler allegedly told the young man that “next time I’ll massage you when you massage me.” The aide then warned that Pressler was a racist, sexual predator who should only be allowed an older, Black assistant who he’d be less likely to abuse.

“He talks way more about nudity, the male body, being naked in spas in Europe, being naked in general than God, or his Baptist background,” the aide wrote.

A pattern
The aide’s allegations are strikingly similar to allegations made by at least six other men, who say that Pressler used naked hot-tubbing or massage sessions to molest them or try to solicit them for sex. The alleged incidents span more than 40 years, beginning in 1978 when court records show that Pressler was removed as the leader of a church youth group after allegedly molesting a college student in a sauna.

In 2004, another young man said that he had been forcibly undressed and groped by Pressler. The allegations were detailed as part of a physical assault lawsuit that Rollins filed against Pressler that year. Woodfill represented Pressler in the lawsuit, which was settled for $450,000; he testified last year that, during mediation for the suit, he was told by Rollins’ attorney that Pressler sexually abused Rollns as a child.

Despite that, Woodfill did not cut ties with Pressler, who did almost no work for the firm but had valuable political connections.

“He may have gone to one hearing in his entire time with us, two at the most. Really, it was his name,” Woodfill testified last year as part of the Rollins lawsuit.“So he didn’t get a salary. He didn’t get a draw. He didn’t get a bonus. We paid for someone to come and assist him. That’s how he got compensated.”

Around 2015, Pressler allegedly solicited a Houston Baptist University student for sex, an incident that prompted the student to stop pursuing a career in ministry and attempt suicide, he wrote in a sworn affidavit.

In 2016, Woodfill was again alerted about sexual misconduct allegations — this time by a 25-year-old attorney at Woodfill’s firm, who said Pressler had told him lewd stories about being naked with men before inviting him to go naked hot-tubbing. The young lawyer detailed the incident in an email to Woodfill, court records show, and said that he had talked to a longtime employee of Woodfill's firm who made it clear that Pressler’s behavior was common knowledge.

The attorney resigned in May 2017, accusing Woodfill of failing to keep his former law partner away from young men at the firm.

Three months later, the aide announced his own resignation.

Pressler, he wrote, “must be stopped.”

Nothing to see here

Edited January 23 by safe sex
Trying to get rid of some duplicate pasting, but it's tough on mobile

[Brisketexan 105,049]

Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal

In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.
“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”
Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.
"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."
The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.
In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.
The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.
Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.
Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.
During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.
Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.
Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.
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We the Texans
Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal
Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape.
BY ROBERT DOWNEN
JAN. 23, 2024
7 HOURS AGO
SHARE
Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.
Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: Courtesy of Steve Gonzales/The Houston Chronicle
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In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.
“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”
Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.
"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.
In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.
The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.
Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.
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Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.
During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.
Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.
Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

If he wins his House race, Woodfill has said he will run for House Speaker against Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who Woodfill has accused of working with Democrats to suppress conservative voices and attack Paxton.
Pressler, 93, is one of the most influential evangelical figures of the last half-century for his key role in the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” during which he helped push the nation’s second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, align more closely with the Republican Party, ban women from preaching and strongly condemn homosexuality. Before that, Pressler represented Houston in the Texas House and served for 14 years as an Appeals Court judge, and his endorsement has for years been sought by evangelical political candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Pressler’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
'Tip of the iceberg'

A copy of the aide’s email was filed in Harris County district court last year as part of a massive lawsuit in which a former member of Pressler’s church youth group, Duane Rollins, accused Pressler of decades of rape beginning when Rollins was 14. Rollins also alleged that other defendants — including Woodfill, the Southern Baptist Convention and Pressler’s longtime church, First Baptist Church of Houston — of enabling or concealing Pressler’s behavior.
The lawsuit was settled late last year under confidential terms, and following six years of court fights that prompted six other men to come forward with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct by Pressler. The lawsuit was also the impetus for a major newspaper investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC.
The aide’s 2017 email was filed in court records not long before the case was scheduled to go to trial. In it, the aide — who was attending Houston Baptist University at the time — detailed a pattern of predatory behavior before imploring Pressler’s daughters and wife to cut off his access to young men.
“For as long as I can tell, Paul has fostered inappropriately close relationships to the young men who work for him,” wrote the aide, who the Tribune is not naming. “I have both heard stories of and personally witnessed Paul getting young men who work for him to give him full-body massages, with all present parties in the nude. Especially recently, a young man’s willingness to perform this act seems to be the main reason he hires them.”
The aide then detailed two recent incidents that he said were “just the tip of the iceberg.” Days before he sent the email, the aide wrote, Pressler had bragged about being in a hot tub naked with three boys under the age of 10 and their father.
DONATE
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City of Gunter
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We the Texans
Email sheds new light on Texas House candidate Jared Woodfill’s role in Southern Baptist leader’s sex abuse scandal
Woodfill has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton despite his connection to Paul Pressler, a prominent religious figure accused of rape.
BY ROBERT DOWNEN
JAN. 23, 2024
7 HOURS AGO
SHARE
Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.
Attorney and former Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill holds a press conference in Houston to discuss his election fraud claims and answer questions about the arrest of an ex-cop who he hired to investigate the claims, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: Courtesy of Steve Gonzales/The Houston Chronicle
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
In 2017, a Houston college student wrote to the family of Paul Pressler, warning them that the former Texas judge and Southern Baptist leader was a pedophile.
“There is a serious issue at hand,” he wrote in an email, adding that Pressler had recently touched him and bragged about being naked with young boys. “I do not think Paul should be around small children or have male assistance of any kind.”
Then, the young man said he was resigning as Pressler’s personal aide, and asked that Pressler’s former law partner, Jared Woodfill, stop paying him to work out of Pressler’s Houston mansion.
"My conscience dictates that I step away,” he wrote. “Please take me off the payroll. If I am to continue receiving paychecks from Woodfill in the continuing weeks, I will have them sent back."
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The email was filed late last year in Harris County district court as part of a lawsuit that accused Woodfill and others of concealing decades of alleged rape by Pressler. It sheds new light on the role that Woodfill, a prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist who is running in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton, played in providing Pressler with access to potential victims.
In March, The Texas Tribune reported that Woodfill had recently testified under oath that he was made aware of child sexual abuse claims against Pressler in 2004, when the two of them were law partners. Despite that, Woodfill continued to lean on the political connections of Pressler — who did almost no work for their firm but was compensated via a string of young, male personal assistants who worked out of his home. Three have accused Pressler of sexual assault or misconduct.
The newly-unearthed email shows that Woodfill continued to furnish Pressler with young aides until at least 2017 — 13 years after he was first warned that Pressler was a sexual predator, and less than a year after he was made aware of new sexual misconduct allegations.
Woodfill has denied any wrongdoing, and said in a text message this week that he had not read the aide’s letter, and does not know him or another man who said in 2004 that Pressler forcibly undressed and groped him. Pressler, 93, has not been criminally charged.
Get our biggest scoops and breaking stories, delivered to your inbox
Breaking News Alerts newsletter
Get our biggest scoops and breaking stories, delivered to your inbox
Your email address
Browse all newsletters at texastribune.org/newsletters.

Woodfill is challenging conservative Houston Rep. Lacey Hull in the Republican primary with endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Paxton.
During Paxton’s impeachment last year, Woodfill co-led a group that raised funds for his defense and frequently defended the embattled attorney general’s Christian values. Paxton, who was acquitted by the Senate, has since returned the favor: In a December radio ad for Woodfill, Paxton attacked Hull — who was ranked as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers last year – as a “Republican in name only” over her vote to impeach him. “True conservatives need to take control of the House,” Paxton said. “Jared Woodfill can lead the way.
Hull did not respond to a request for comment. Paxton and Miller also did not respond to questions about Woodfill’s relationship to Pressler.
Woodfill served 14 years as the chair of the Harris County GOP and, in 2015, he and Houston GOP powerbroker Steven Hotze played key roles in the defeat of an equal rights ordinance that would have made LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination illegal in Houston. During that campaign, Woodfill and Hotze compared the gay rights movement to Nazis and frequently painted members of the LGBTQ+ community as sexual predators and groomers.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

If he wins his House race, Woodfill has said he will run for House Speaker against Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who Woodfill has accused of working with Democrats to suppress conservative voices and attack Paxton.
Pressler, 93, is one of the most influential evangelical figures of the last half-century for his key role in the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” during which he helped push the nation’s second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, align more closely with the Republican Party, ban women from preaching and strongly condemn homosexuality. Before that, Pressler represented Houston in the Texas House and served for 14 years as an Appeals Court judge, and his endorsement has for years been sought by evangelical political candidates, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Pressler’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
'Tip of the iceberg'
A copy of the aide’s email was filed in Harris County district court last year as part of a massive lawsuit in which a former member of Pressler’s church youth group, Duane Rollins, accused Pressler of decades of rape beginning when Rollins was 14. Rollins also alleged that other defendants — including Woodfill, the Southern Baptist Convention and Pressler’s longtime church, First Baptist Church of Houston — of enabling or concealing Pressler’s behavior.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

The lawsuit was settled late last year under confidential terms, and following six years of court fights that prompted six other men to come forward with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct by Pressler. The lawsuit was also the impetus for a major newspaper investigation into sexual abuse in the SBC.
The aide’s 2017 email was filed in court records not long before the case was scheduled to go to trial. In it, the aide — who was attending Houston Baptist University at the time — detailed a pattern of predatory behavior before imploring Pressler’s daughters and wife to cut off his access to young men.
“For as long as I can tell, Paul has fostered inappropriately close relationships to the young men who work for him,” wrote the aide, who the Tribune is not naming. “I have both heard stories of and personally witnessed Paul getting young men who work for him to give him full-body massages, with all present parties in the nude. Especially recently, a young man’s willingness to perform this act seems to be the main reason he hires them.”
The aide then detailed two recent incidents that he said were “just the tip of the iceberg.” Days before he sent the email, the aide wrote, Pressler had bragged about being in a hot tub naked with three boys under the age of 10 and their father.
The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

“After bragging about this hot tub experience, Paul told me ‘you seriously need to get over your phobia of taking off your clothes with me,’ “ the aide wrote. “Paul then went on to say that ‘if the young boys were okay with getting naked in the hot tub with me then so you [sic] should be ok with it also.’ “
The day before the aide penned the letter, he said he was repeatedly caressed by Pressler, who told him that “I really need this.” At the time, they were on their way to pick up a 20-year-old man who was nearly homeless and had called Pressler for help, the aide wrote.
The three of them then went to dinner, where Pressler offered the young man $100 for a massage before suggesting they both do so naked, the aide wrote. Presser also repeatedly kissed the young man, the aide wrote
They then went back to Pressler’s home, and Pressler took the young man into a locked room. When they emerged, Pressler allegedly told the young man that “next time I’ll massage you when you massage me.” The aide then warned that Pressler was a racist, sexual predator who should only be allowed an older, Black assistant who he’d be less likely to abuse.
“He talks way more about nudity, the male body, being naked in spas in Europe, being naked in general than God, or his Baptist background,” the aide wrote.
A pattern
The aide’s allegations are strikingly similar to allegations made by at least six other men, who say that Pressler used naked hot-tubbing or massage sessions to molest them or try to solicit them for sex. The alleged incidents span more than 40 years, beginning in 1978 when court records show that Pressler was removed as the leader of a church youth group after allegedly molesting a college student in a sauna.
In 2004, another young man said that he had been forcibly undressed and groped by Pressler. The allegations were detailed as part of a physical assault lawsuit that Rollins filed against Pressler that year. Woodfill represented Pressler in the lawsuit, which was settled for $450,000; he testified last year that, during mediation for the suit, he was told by Rollins’ attorney that Pressler sexually abused Rollns as a child.
Despite that, Woodfill did not cut ties with Pressler, who did almost no work for the firm but had valuable political connections.
“He may have gone to one hearing in his entire time with us, two at the most. Really, it was his name,” Woodfill testified last year as part of the Rollins lawsuit.“So he didn’t get a salary. He didn’t get a draw. He didn’t get a bonus. We paid for someone to come and assist him. That’s how he got compensated.”
Around 2015, Pressler allegedly solicited a Houston Baptist University student for sex, an incident that prompted the student to stop pursuing a career in ministry and attempt suicide, he wrote in a sworn affidavit.
In 2016, Woodfill was again alerted about sexual misconduct allegations — this time by a 25-year-old attorney at Woodfill’s firm, who said Pressler had told him lewd stories about being naked with men before inviting him to go naked hot-tubbing. The young lawyer detailed the incident in an email to Woodfill, court records show, and said that he had talked to a longtime employee of Woodfill's firm who made it clear that Pressler’s behavior was common knowledge.
The attorney resigned in May 2017, accusing Woodfill of failing to keep his former law partner away from young men at the firm.
Three months later, the aide announced his own resignation.
Pressler, he wrote, “must be stopped.”

Nothing to see here

Pressler must be a drag queen, right?

[tx 3 putt 76,863]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Nothing to see here

Pressler must be a drag queen, right?

Vote Republican, Pro Sex Trafficking 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,570]

On 1/20/2024 at 6:04 PM, TwiceHorn said:

However, because it's not the ascending/descending "scale" of contumacious behavior, he's going to get another "strike" or two before serious shit is on the table.

Me after reading a TwiceHorn post- "One day, I'm going to learn what that word means.

 

...

 

Not today. But one day."

[Ben Tobin 374]

16 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

That's simply incredible to me, considering how many times I've heard it.

Seriously. They probably never tumped over nothing neither

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,570]

PROUD BOYS! MOMS FOR LIBERTY! ASSEMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*crickets*

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2,663]

Man, that Pressler shit is nauseating. Too bad we don't have a state democratic party worth a damn at putting this kind of crap on blast.

[safe sex 11,696]

Too bad we don't have conservatives who will act by their supposed principles

[Brisketexan 105,049]

Just now, safe sex said:

Too bad we don't have conservatives who will act by their supposed principles

But here's the thing: they ARE acting by their principles:

“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

Are you a Republican who actually sexually abuses people, rapes kids, etc.?  IT'S ALL GOOD, NO PROBLEM!

Are you a non-Republican who is simply gay or trans, which Republicans find icky?  Or maybe you're just a "live and let live" type who doesn't condemn gay or trans people?  YOU'RE A PEDOPHILE!

[safe sex 11,696]

I mean more in the classical definition of the word, but otherwise yes you're right.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,570]

2 hours ago, safe sex said:

Too bad we don't have conservatives who will act by their supposed principles

Too bad we have a critical mass of the electorate who've been conned by the Con Artist Elites into buying the winner/loser status-seeking value system to such a degree that they'll flush any semblance of human decency to maintain the frayed delusion that they're not the bottom rung on the ladder and at all costs, for the love of God, someone must have a shittier life than them.