Many People Are Saying (2/9/24)
Weekly Texas rumors, gossip, and projects we're working on.
Welcome to “Many People Are Saying,” our once a week paid-subscriber article where we feature rumors we’re hearing, inside gossip in the political world, and projects and pieces we’re working on that we haven’t published yet.
This week:
Kyle Biedermann embarrasses himself
Lots of misappropriated endorsements!
Rep Thimesch voices support for Dade Phelan.
Kyle Biedermann Defends Disgraced Former Rep Bryan Slaton
At a Kendall County Tea Party meeting this week, Biedermann got emotional and angry while defending disgraced former State House Rep Bryan Slaton.
For those who forgot, Bryan Slaton was expelled by a vote of 147-0 (yes, even Tinderholt voted to expel Slaton), after an investigation determined he got his 19-year old staffer drunk and had sex with her.
The report also states that Slaton drove the 19-year old to a drugstore to buy “Plan B” medication. You can read the full report here.
Biedermann can be seen in the video getting angry and emotional while defending Slaton. Biedermann points out that others in TXLEGE aren’t held responsible for their behavior (Editors note: he’s correct here), while also saying that Slaton did nothing illegal (Editors note: he’s incorrect here, although it’s not a crime to cheat on your wife and have sex with your staff, it is illegal to give minors alcohol, it’s also illegal to have sex with someone too drunk to consent).
Slaton positioned himself as the farthest right-leaning Christian-conservative in TXLEGE thus courting the grassroots who also align themselves with Christian-conservative views.
Biedermann seems keen on positioning himself as a strong Christian conservative like Slaton. Ironically enough, the same organization that supported Slaton also had its new re-branded/adjacent group give $75,000 to Biedermann.
Donations from this org make up approximately 74% of Biedermann’s total donations for 2024. What does it mean when a politician’s financial support is almost 3/4th from one organization?
Biedermann is also on the board of directors for an adjacent org connected to Texans United for a Conservative Majority, his largest donor. It’s all very incestual. The same orgs, same boards, same people, same support, same consultants, same donors, etc.
Two things can be true at the same time. The “establishment” in the Texas House chooses to discriminate against those it views as its enemies and what the investigation found that Bryan Slaton did was disgusting and illegal. It seems Biedermann struggles with this concept. His statement to Brad Johnson of The Texan seems to reflect this.
To this day, there are still activists who claim Slaton was “set-up” or that this was all some sort of elaborate hoax. These people are absurd and you should avoid taking them seriously.
Slaton’s own lawyers didn’t even deny the incident occurred, they only tried to dismiss the whole investigation on the grounds that it didn’t happen in the “workplace.”
Conservatives, ironically enough, would find Biedermann’s previous endorsement against AG Ken Paxton to be right in line with the “establishment.”
This was only 2 years ago.
We reached out to Biedermann for comment yesterday morning and have yet to receive a response.
Lots of Misappropriated Endorsements
It’s campaign season and reps are desperate to show that they’re endorsed by big names and different people. What’s odd is that so many have been caught up misappropriating endorsements and support. Here’s a few angry letters and disavowals we’ve seen this week.