Scumbag Ex-Congressman Blake Farenthold Got a New Job

Walking bag of dogshit Blake Farenthold resigned in disgrace from Congress last month after it was revealed that he spent $84,000 of the public’s money to settle a sexual harassment case with his former communications director. But things have a way of turning out okay for the worst people in the world, and Farenthold is no different.

The Victoria (TX) Advocate reported that Farenthold has landed on his feet with a $160,000 per year gig as the legislative liaison for the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort, which is located in Texas’ Matagorda Bay. Farenthold represented the area in Congress, and the Washington Examiner reported that just two years ago he secured federal funding for a dredging project at the port:

Two years ago, before he was sunk by scandal, Farenthold worked with the local port authority to secure federal dollars to dredge the adjoining channels. According to the Victoria Advocate, the congressman worked with the Calhoun Port Authority to get the project “100 percent paid funded by the federal government,” and port director Charles Hausmann couldn’t have been happier.

“The contract came in at $2.14 million,” Hausmann said at the time, “so it saved the citizens of Calhoun County a lot.”

According to the Advocate, Calhoun Port Authority Board chairman Randy Boyd contributed over $16,000 to Farenthold since 2011.

In 2012, Congress theoretically banned so-called “pork barrel spending.” All-in-all, it was a pretty stupid decision, but the practice never really went away, helping to end a government shutdown just a year later. Farenthold—who was elected in 2010 as a Tea Party candidate—used “pork barrel spending” as an excuse to justify a vote against a relief package for New York and New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy.

“They had funding for things as far away from Alaska that wasn’t even touched by Sandy,” Farenthold said last year in defense of that vote, when a relief package for Hurricane Harvey was being discussed. “That was not a vote against disaster relief. That was a vote against pork-barrel spending.”

Farenthold’s tone toward “pork” projects has markedly changed. “They’ve got some issues with the federal government that they need to get resolved with respect to design deficiency,” Farenthold said of his new gig on a local radio show yesterday. “There’s a variety of issues, I’ll just leave it at that.”

“I’ve got a good relationship with my former colleagues,” Farenthold added. Good to know!

If nothing else, the fact that he was a reportedly a complete fucking monster to his female employees should’ve sunk his ability to hold any sort of public office ever again. “Hopefully, that very real threat of liability will lead the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort to make sure that he does not have the opportunity to harass others, which means that those who came forward with complaints about his past behavior will have had a real impact and protected others by sharing their story,” Emily Martin, the general counsel of the National Women’s Law Center, told the Advocate.

Yet it appears that Farenthold’s appointment has local bipartisan support, even as he spars with Republican governor Greg Abbott over who’s responsible for paying for the pointless June 30 special election to replace him in Congress. “I hope that Mr. Farenthold does a good job…I know that I have complete confidence in the board [which hired Farenthold] there,” former Calhoun County Democratic Party chairwoman Evelyn Burleson told the paper.

Let’s hear some more about the #MeToo “witch hunt.”