Slaton Has Staffer with Same Unique Name
as Woman Suing Mayra Flores Former Aide
Capitol Inside
April 11, 2023
The Texas House launched an investigation into one of its most principled conservatives on Monday in a saga that revolves on allegations of marital infidelity, serving alcohol to woman who isn't old enough to drink and the threat of blackmail if she blew the whistle on him.
The scandal in which GOP State Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City finds himself engulf stems from a complaint that a legislative staffer filed in a move that sparked a General Investigating Committee probe and calls for his resignation from at least two colleagues in the far right Texas Freedom Caucus.
It will be interesting to see which House Republican on the five-member investigations panel will be prepared to cast the first stone in the Slaton case. A dozen current GOP legislators in Texas or more have been the subject of salacious rumors about romantic liaisons with colleagues and staffers in the past year alone.
While a fair share of Democrats have cheated on spouses and families as well, the stench of hypocrisy is not as foul with the minority party's members as it's been with the adulterous Republicans who seeking to regulate the sex lives of others with legislation that would be an unprecedented invasion into personal privacy.
But the Slaton case could have some devils in the details that haven't been reported up to now. The female accuser has only been identified as an intern at the Texas Capitol up to now in the mainstream media. While it may be pure coincidence, Slaton's recent staff roster includes a woman with the same unique name as the plaintiff in a lawsuit against a former aide to Republican U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores of Los Indios amid accusations of sexual harassment and aggressive behavior.
Cadence Vaughan - a former president of the Hidalgo County Teenage Republicans - filed the suit last fall with Aron Peña III and his sister who's the GOP county chair there listed a co-defendants. A McAllen high school graduate in 2022 based on McAllen Monitor report, Vaughan accused Pena of touching and kissing her without her consent while driving her and a friend home from a political event in July.
Pena's father - Aaron Peña - is a former Texas House member who'd been elected as a Democrat before switching to the GOP after his district in the Rio Grande Valley was redrawn to give the Republicans a shot at flipping it. Hidalgo County GOP Chair Adrienne Peña-Garza, the former lawmaker's daughter, lost a bid last month to be dismissed as a defendant when State District Judge Mario E. Ramirez Jr. ruled against a motion she'd filed
There's no way for the public to know if the Slaton and Pena accusers are the same person. The Telicon web site lists Cadence Vaughan as the committee director on Slaton's staff. House investigators may already know the answer and could clear up the confusion if they do.
The House panel's five members must first decide if any of them will abstain from the Slaton probe as a result of potential conflicts of interest stemming from adulterous relations with staffers or other lawmakers in the past. Representatives on both sides of the aisle would face the same question if the entire body is compelled to weigh in on the case eventually.
The General Investigating Committee lineup includes the chairman GOP State Rep. Andrew Murr of Junction along with Republican State Reps. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth and David Spiller of Jacksboro. Democratic State Reps. Ann Johnson of Houston and Oscar Longoria of Mission are members of the panel as well.
But nothing has been made public to substantiate Republican State Rep. Briscoe Cain's portrayal of Slaton as a sexual predator is a Twitter post. GOP State Rep. Steve Toth of The Woodlands and Cain have both called on Slaton to resign immediately. Neither have raised the specter of a vote to expel Slaton from the Legislature with a proposal that would require two-thirds support in both the House and Senate.
Slaton has been leading the crusade to ban drag shows with minors in the audience and gender-affirming care. He has been one of the Republicans' hardest working lawmakers - having filed 27 amendments to the appropriations bill that the House approved last week with Slaton as the only member who was absent for the debate throughout the day.
Slaton hired a lawyer who's depicted the allegations in the complaint as false and wildly absurd. The circumstances of the Slaton case are highly suspicious with a fishy smell.
more to come ... |
