Tawdry Tales Give GOP First Taste
of Ban on Social Media Censorship

Capitol Inside
February 12, 2022

Governor Greg Abbott released a report this week that touted a novel ban on social media censorship that GOP lawmakers in Austin approved last year as one of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's paramount priorities in the most conservative agenda ever at the Texas Capitol.

Republican leaders and legislators are seeing the fruits of their work now in an obscene Twitter barrage that's portrayed one of their own as a serial philanderer who hasn't lived up to his reputation as a family values crusader. As the target of the accusations, GOP State Rep. Brooks Landgraf of Odessa could be rethinking the wisdom behind his vote for House Bill 20 in a special session last summer.

The allegations against Landgraf haven't been substantiated and could have no truth to them as a result. The fourth-term Republican from the Permian Basin could be an innocent victim of free speech. But Landgraf could be doomed nonetheless in the GOP primary election next month in a re-election bid if voters back home aren't willing to presume that he's not guilty of cheating on his wife until proven otherwise,

The House District 81 battle in round one also features challenger Casey Gray - a former U.S. Navy member who'd been a prohibitive underdog before the anonymous, uncensored and potentially false assault on social media in the past week or two. A Bangs High School graduate who was born in Odessa and lives there again now, Gray is riding a spectacular momentum surge whether Landgraf has cheated on his wife of nine years or not.

The GOP competition in HD 81 has been elevated from the 41st to the third spot on the Capitol Inside Races to Watch in the March 1 primary election as a product of the latest Republican sex scandal that could be pure fiction if the nameless online claims of multiple mistresses including at least one purported Capitol staffer aren't true.

The lascivious tweeting chitchat has already cost Landgraf an endorsement from one of the four county sheriffs who he represents in HD 81. Winkler County Sheriff Darin Mitchell cancelled his support for Landgraf in the wake of a report on the steamy tattle on Twitter on an Empower Texans sister group web site this week.

Fox Odessa-Midland affiliate KMID reported that Mitchell broke the news to Landgraf in a letter on Friday. “I was informed of a news article… alleging you of having sexual impropriety and having extramarital affairs," Mitchell explained. "I understand that these are only allegations and are not proven, however I cannot, and will not endorse anyone that has allegations as these.”

Landgraf vs. Gray is the top-ranked Texas House race on the primary fight card that includes re-election campaigns for Republican State Reps. John Raney of College Station, Glenn Rogers of Graford and Reggie Smith of Sherman in the top 10. Rogers faces a serious first-round threat from the far right in Parker County activist Mike Olcott. Smith is fighting to stave off a high-profile challenge from Shelley Luther - a current Tom Bean resident who came close in a losing state Senate bid in a special election runoff in late 2020.

Luther gained fame in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when she was jailed for operating her Dallas-area hair salon in defiance of an Abbott mandate on the closure of nonessential business closures in attempt to protect the public health. Luther, who had no experience in politics, parlayed her celebrity protestor status into a springboard for runs to the hard right in the Senate contest and the current bid in House District 62 where Smith is in the midst of a second term.

Rogers has found himself at a substantial financial disadvantage in his first House District 60 re-election race with Olcott running far to his right in a field of four with runoff potential. Rogers' odds plummeted when he and fellow Republicans approved a transformation of HD 60 from rural to suburban.

Raney - a member of the lower chamber since 2011 - has appeared to be in potentially serious shape in a first-round duel with John Slocum as a lone foe. The House District 14 challenger has a significant inherent advantage as the son of R.C. Slocum - a former Texas A&M University head football coach who's been immensely popular in the area.

But Raney - in an apparent case of mistaken identity - has had his name dragged into the uncensored social media gorging of Landgraf with a sidebar narrative that hasn't been believable from the start. Raney's name has never popped in the statehouse rumor mill about marital infidelity involving lawmakers and staffers, lobbyists and other legislators.

Raney, Abbott and others who've been faithful to their families have a right to be furious for having names and reputations wrongly tarnished. But every Republican who voted for SB 3 might be wise to look in the mirror and ask themselves how they could have been so short-sighted with their support for a measure that was loaded with the potential to backfire.

Landgraf has been one of House Speaker Dade Phelan's top lieutenants in his role as the Environmental Regulation Committee chairman. Phelan would have to find someone else to protect the environment if Landgraf fails to survive the unbridled reputation smear on social media and Gray gets the nomination as a gift as a consequence in a district where no Democrats filed to run in 2022.

Landgraf's troubles may have multiplied significantly this week when former House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland accused him of turning the nearby city of Andrews into a burial ground for four decades worth of nuclear waste as a result of a technical error in a bill that the representative from Odessa sponsored last year.

Landgraf found himself in an embarrassing scandal last spring when he fired one of two staff members who'd been at the heart of a fabricated date rape drugging tale that destroyed the career of a lobbyist.

The anonymous Landgraf critics have been taking no prisoners - roping Abbott himself into the tawdry tweets with a picture that shows him posing at an event with two female supporters. There's been no apparent evidence that would link Gray to the image destruction effort aimed at Landgraf.

But Gray has been a credible candidate for one who'd appeared to have no chance until now - raising almost $24,000 from donors by January 20 to go with a $20,000 loan. Landgraf ranks 29th in overall fundraising on the House battlefield after generating almost $203,000 from donors in 2021 and the first three weeks of January.

The number one race on the Texas watch list continues to be a shootout between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and a group of challengers that includes Land Commissioner George P. Bush, former state Supreme Court judge Eva Guzman and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert.

But the X-rated HD 81 saga is a close third in the rankings below Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar's fight to survive a rematch with primary rival Jessica Cisneros in the midst of a curiously timed investigation by the FBI into activities related to a leadership post.