I know weirdness is the norm in the House GOP caucus, especially in the wake of the Drunk Weepy Oompa-Loompa's quick fade (oh, how I'm going to miss using that nickname!), but few things are weirder to me than the sight of Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) running for Speaker, even if he did get 12 votes for the job earlier this year. Maybe it's because, thanks to Florida's impending new congressional map, he likely won't have a House seat come January 2017, which means, were he to actually win the Speakership, his time with the gavel would be very short. But also because the Florida native has, well, some ties that many in the GOP probably would not want becoming widely known.
What kind of ties, you ask? This kind:
Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) is running as the alternative to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to succeed John Boehner as Speaker of the House. He also has a decades-long affiliation with the Institute in Basic Life Principles, the controversial ministry whose founder, Bill Gothard, resigned last year after more than 30 women accused him of sexual harassment. As TPM reported earlier this month, IBLP subjected young followers to victim-blaming “counseling” for rape, as well as grueling work schedules at its facilities for little or no pay, requiring women to engage in gendered tasks that included scrubbing carpets on their hands and knees.
Yeah, that'd go great with the Planned Parenthood offensive, wouldn't it, GOP?
Wait, it gets worse:
But IBLP’s teaching on wifely submission is just the tip of the iceberg of the ministry’s authoritarian ideology, which includes opposition to, among other things, public education, “humanistic” laws, contraception, and even rock music. Despite downplaying his adherence to a core Gothard teaching, Webster has been, as a 1997 St. Petersburg Times article put it, “an enthusiastic supporter” of IBLP.
I'm sure he is.
Webster's IBLP ties have been brought up before, notably by Alan Grayson in 2010 with his "Taliban Dan" ad. But now it might be getting more scrutiny thanks to another notorious name tied to the group:
Despite scrutiny over the years that culminated in Gothard’s 2014 resignation and declining enrollments, IBLP continues to keep committed families, including Webster’s, under its wing. One of Webster’s sons, John, married Alyssa Bates, daughter of IBLP board member Gil Bates, patriarch of another mega-family and friends of the Duggars, which has its own reality television show on the UpTV network. Another son, Jordan, met his future wife, Olivia Fredrickson, while both were working at IBLP headquarters, according to the couple’s blog.
In May 2014, two months after Gothard resigned from IBLP, Josh Duggar—who a year later would himself be embroiled in a sex abuse scandal—spoke at an IBLP conference in Nashville. Duggar, who at the time was the executive director of Family Research Council Action, lamented Congressional gridlock but acknowledged the presence of an ally at the conference.
“I know Congressman Webster is here,” said Duggar. “We know that our duty is to do what God has given us to do. We have to leave the results up to Him.”
No doubt.
So, closely associated to a crazy church group with extremist views, also associated with the Duggars, and likely to be out of the House next term. Quite the winner!
Somehow, I doubt Kevin McCarthy has much to fear from this clown.