Letter to the Editor

Reader suggests Farenthold should resign

Posted

To the Editor:

After reading Rob Ford's recent article on Congressman Blake Farenthold's sexual harassment suit, I felt compelled to comment.
At the time of Farenthold's initial win in 2010, Cameron County was part of Congressional District 27, but later, through redistricting, was included in District 32. When Mr. Farenthold was running in Cameron County, many of my fellow Republicans in Brownsville were skeptical of his ability and integrity to adequately represent South Texas. From recent reports emanating from our nation's capital, those who had such misgivings seem to have been correct.
With a personal net worth of over 6 million dollars, which is well above the average net worth of representatives in Congress, Farenthold initially moved to settle his suit for sexual impropriety by utilizing a taxpayer-funded account. Only after word got out that Mr. Farenthold had taken this action did he announce that he would return the monies by way of taking out a personal loan.
Such action leads me to ask why a person of considerable financial means would even think about using public funds in such a manner. To be blunt, this strongly reflects negatively on Congressman Farenthold's character and fitness to represent Texans in Washington.
Hopefully, Mr. Farenthold will follow the example of Representative Joe Barton and choose not to run in 2018. Better yet, he should consider resigning. An excellent replacement in Congress for Republicans voting in the upcoming primary in District 27 lives just down the road in Victoria in the person of Michael Cloud, who has a distinguished record serving on the Texas State Republican Executive Committee.

John Barham

Brownsville

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