Bryan Lee Slaton (born February 2,1978)[1] is a former pastor and American politician. Slaton represented the 2nd district in the Texas House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party,Slaton also works for his family business,Slaton Financial Services.
In May 2023 the Texas House Committee on General Investigating recommended Slaton be expelled after an investigation found that on March 31 or April 1,2023,Slaton provided alcohol to,and had sex with,a 19-year-old female legislative aide under his employ who was "unable to give effective consent."[2] The committee also concluded that Slaton later showed a threatening email to the aide,and told her not to discuss the incident,and asked another lawmaker not to discuss the incident.[3]
On May 8,2023,Slaton resigned his House membership. On May 9,2023,the Texas House voted unanimously[4] to expel him,as failing to do so would have allowed him to draw his salary and other benefits until a successor could be elected.[2]
In 2016,Slaton filed to run against incumbent state representative Dan Flynn. On March 1,2016,Slaton narrowly lost to the incumbent in the Republican primary. Flynn polled 14,917 votes (51 percent) to Slaton's 14,336 (49 percent).[6] In 2018,Slaton decided to take on the incumbent again. In the 2018 primary election,Flynn defeated Slaton again,11,803 (51.7 percent) to 11,013 (48.3 percent).
However,on July 14,2020,Slaton defeated Flynn by a 22-point margin in the Republican primary runoff,forcing the incumbent into a runoff election.[7][8] Slaton positioned himself as ostensibly more conservative than Flynn,[9] but later in office revealed extremist views when Slaton introduced a bill to discuss secession.[10] Slaton criticized Flynn for unnecessary and superfluous spending.[11] He sent out mail which pointed out Flynn's campaign-funded lifestyle expenses such as nearly $14,000 in spending on cookies and using his campaign fund to pay for a Netflix subscription.[11] Slaton campaigned on abolishing property taxes,ending overly broad laws that give government excess power during emergencies,and pledging to oppose any tax increase.[11]
In March 2021,Slaton introduced a bill that would abolish abortion and make it a criminal act,whereby women and physicians who received and performed abortions,respectively,could receive the death penalty. The bill made no exceptions for rape or incest;it did provide exemptions for ectopic pregnancies that threaten the life of the woman "when a reasonable alternative to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn child is unavailable."[12]
In June 2022,Slaton said in a social media post that he planned to introduce legislation in the 2023 legislative session that would ban minors from drag shows in Texas.[13] Slaton declared in an interview that year:"Children don't need to be focused on sex and sexualization,and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult".[14]
Slaton supports a ban on Democrats being given committee chairmanships as long as the Republicans hold the majority of seats in the Texas House.[15] On December 6,2022,Slaton proposed a rule change to the Texas House Administration Committee that would end Democrats receiving committee chairmanships. On February 27,2023,Slaton introduced HB 2889,which would allow a tax credit for married residents of Texas that would increase as the number of children increases,either by procreation or adoption.[16]
On March 6,2023,Slaton introduced HB 3596,the "Texas Independence Referendum Act" (TEXIT),[17] which would allow for a referendum to investigate the secession of Texas from the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court case Texas v. White ruled in 1869 that the Constitution did not permit states to unilaterally secede from the United States.[10]
On May 10,2023,Slaton was expelled by a unanimous vote,147–0,based on an investigation that determined the Royse City Republican had sex with a 19-year-old aide after getting her drunk.[18]
Personal life
Slaton married his second and current wife in 2017;[19] she filed for divorce in April 2022 then withdrew it in November 2022.[20]
Sexual misconduct controversy,expulsion and resignation
On April 10,2023,a complaint surfaced alleging Slaton had been in an "inappropriate relationship" with an intern,Cadence Vaughan,[21] who worked for his office,over the previous month,culminating in a late-night incident involving alcohol.[20] Reportedly,multiple House colleagues encouraged Slaton to resign when the incident became public.[22] Representatives Briscoe Cain and Steve Toth,both Republicans,were the first to call for Slaton's resignation.[23][24][25] Rep. Briscoe Cain was the first Republican to publicly call for Slaton's resignation.[26] On April 7,2023,Cain tweeted that he believed Slaton "to be a sexual predator" and “[h]e should resign now.”[27] On April 11,2023,Rep. Steve Toth became the second Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives to call for Slaton’s resignation saying that “his behavior appears to be predatory.”[28][29] According to The Texas Tribune,“[t]he resignation calls by Cain and Toth are noteworthy. The two are members of the staunchly conservative Texas House Freedom Caucus,which takes positions that usually align with Slaton’s.”[30][31]
The incident was investigated by the House Committee on General Investigating,[lower-alpha 1] which published a report in May 2023 unanimously recommending Slaton's expulsion from the House,and detailing that he had committed the crimes of providing alcohol to a minor,abuse of official capacity,and official oppression.[32] The committee's report stated that Slaton had invited a 19-year-old aide to his home at around 10 p.m. on March 30,2023,telling her that he "did not want to drink by himself." Friends of the aide accompanied her as a "protective measure," with their presence surprising Slaton.[33] At his home,Slaton provided alcohol to all of them. The staff member testified that she drank a "lot of alcohol," felt "pretty rough" and "really dizzy."[33] When the friends left Slaton's home and she attempted to get up to leave as well,Slaton told her in front of the others that she "did not have to leave if she did not want to," and she stayed.[33] The aide later testified that this was "an inappropriate situation ... because I had too much to drink."[33]
A co-worker of the aide testified that the aide later confided that she had unprotected sex with Slaton. The committee report further details that the aide bought the Plan B emergency contraceptive the next day.[32][33]
The General Investigating Committee report stated that,according to testimony,Slaton had showed the aide an email that said,"I know you’re sleeping with a staffer. Can you really trust those 20-year-old girls? She owns you now."[33] The aide testified that this incident made her "really fearful that I would potentially lose my job," and that in response,Slaton told her,"[e]verything would be fine. Everyone involved just has to stay quiet."[33] The aide reported her suspicion to the committee that the threatening email she had been shown appeared to come from Slaton's business email account.[32]
The committee reported that Slaton did not deny the allegation of having sex with the aide,and that neither Slaton nor his attorney provided any evidence to contradict the allegations. Instead,Slaton's attorney advocated that the complaints against the representative should be rejected because the alleged incident with the intern occurred in Slaton's home,not in their workplace.[32][33]
Included in the committee report was the note that another representative had called Slaton to ask if he "invited a young staffer to your condo and you guys had sex," to which Slaton replied,"Yes,that's true." The report revealed that Slaton later requested that the other legislator keep the details of their call "between us."[32]
House Resolution 1542 to expel Slaton was scheduled for a vote on May 9,2023.[34] However,on May 8,2023,Slaton resigned his seat.[35] A memo issued by the General Investigating Committee to the Texas House noted that,despite the timing of Slaton's act of resignation,Texas law and court opinions still considered Slaton a full member of the state house,entitled to all benefits of the office "until his successor is duly qualified," arguing that expulsion was therefore necessary regardless of Slaton resigning. The House voted 147–0 to expel him.[lower-alpha 2]
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↑ Barragan, James (April 11, 2023). "Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign". www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2024. The resignation calls by Cain and Toth are noteworthy. The two are members of the staunchly conservative Texas House Freedom Caucus, which takes positions that usually align with Slaton's.
↑ Barragan, James (April 11, 2023). "Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2024. On Friday — before the allegations against Slaton were public — state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, also condemned Slaton on Twitter without naming him.
↑ Barragan, James (April 11, 2023). "Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign". www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2024. "'What's most troubling about the events of this story is that his behavior appears to be predatory,' Toth wrote."
↑ Barragan, James (April 11, 2023). "Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign". www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2024. The resignation calls by Cain and Toth are noteworthy. The two are members of the staunchly conservative Texas House Freedom Caucus, which takes positions that usually align with Slaton's.
↑ Kika, Thomas (April 11, 2023). "Texas GOP Rep Faces Calls From Own Party to Resign Amid Alleged Misconduct". Newsweek. Retrieved May 1, 2024. The Tribune, a news website, said these calls are particularly noteworthy because Cain and Toth are also considered to be staunch conservatives and have a history of voting along the same lines as Slaton.
↑ The Committee consists of five members, three Republicans (including the chair) and two Democrats (including the vice chair), all appointed by the Speaker.
↑ The three members not voting were Slaton (who was absent), Sherman (who had previously been excused from attendance), and Davis (who was absent).
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