Disgraced ex-congressman Blake Farenthold is now flatly refusing to pay back the $84,000 in taxpayer's money he used to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, back before he fled Congress entirely in an effort to prevent a fuller House investigation, but he's landing on his feet. The man in the ducky pajamas has a spiffy new job as a lobbyist.
Farenthold announced Monday on a Corpus Christi radio show that he landed a new gig at the Calhoun Port Authority in Port Lavaca, Texas, as reported by Caller Times. He is now the port’s full-time legislative liaison, and his job responsibilities include increasing the port’s visibility with federal lawmakers and the Trump administration. Port Lavaca sits on the Texas coast some 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi. [...]
It is generally illegal for a former member of Congress to immediately become a lobbyist, but there are exceptions for those lobbying for state or local government agencies.
"Is generally illegal, but" has been the apparent motto of the Farenthold crop of House Republicans. They had it printed on commemorative plates.
Farenthold's salary will apparently be in the $160,000 range, which is a good fallback gig for someone who had to flee his last job for drunken and perverted conduct. And it will allow him to again see his friends in Congress, this time as representative of the Calhoun Port Authority. Their mascot is a pajamas-wearing duck.
Well, it should be, anyway. You can have that idea for free, Calhoun. A duck is a fine mascot for a working port; a duck quacking "is generally illegal, but" would be a worldwide sensation.