Scott Franklin was a Lakeland city councilman, someone I actually spoke in disagreement with in 2020 when the city commission was debating whether to adopt a mask mandate. He is proud of his conservatism, and came to the House after defeating an incumbent in the primary because he believed Ross Spano’s loaning himself late-in-the-race money in violation of campaign finance laws violated conservative principles.
I just sent him this by email:
Congressman,
If you are a conservative and not simply partisan, the serious issues involving Associate Justice Thomas's ethics and arguably corrupt practices should prompt you to seek for the House to launch an impeachment inquiry. I say this because the legal process has proven you right to call out your predecessor, Ross Spano, for his violation of campaign finance laws. The questions raised about Thomas involve far larger and far worse corruption.
Here are the things that concern me:
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We pay federal judges well to prevent them from needing streams of outside income that can lead to corruption. However, Ginni Thomas's Washington influence peddling reportedly yields their household $13 million a year, selling influence within the corrridors of government.
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Everything about this Harlan Crow business stinks. Accepting travel and other gifts. A sweetheart property sale in which Thomas's mother gets to live rent free in a home that had been sold for more than market value. Thousands of dollars annual in private school tuition.
I have seen that your upper-house colleague, Sen. Cornyn, believes Thomas is being singled out because he is a black conservative. I actually agree. He is a magnet for corruption because he is a poster child for an assortment of not-conservative rather-reflexively-right-wing causes. More than anyone else's, his stewardship of his office has diminished the Supreme Court's standing among the American people.
I know you would be breaking ranks to introduce an article to impeach, and that you wouldn't even necessarily gain my vote as a Dem in your district. But the conservative principles that you put forward as a candidate call for this.
Thank you,