According to reports, the committee wrote that “Slaton’s misconduct is grave and serious,” and not only included the 45-year-old lawmaker giving alcohol to the intern at his condo, but reportedly having sex with the intern after she was inebriated. Furthermore, the AP reported, “He later showed the intern a threatening email but said everything would be fine if the incident was kept quiet.”
Slaton’s attorney told the Tribune at the time that the claims were “outrageous” and being pushed “online by second-tier media.” So far Slaton and his lawyer have remained silent on the investigation’s recommendation for expulsion.
The slowly emerging details about the matter paint a pretty dark picture of the right-wing representative. According to the Texas Tribune, which first reported on the complaint in April, Slaton is alleged to have called the intern after 10 PM on March 31. He invited the intern over to his Austin condo, where all of the inappropriate behavior took place. According to the Associated Press, two women reportedly “tried to dissuade the intern from spending time with Slaton and suggested that his behavior was inappropriate.” However, the intern, who was described as “naive” by one of the women, still agreed to visit Slaton. The other women went with the intern to Slaton’s condo, where they were served enough rum and cookies that one of the women vomited, while the intern had “split vision” and was “really dizzy.”
The other women finally left, but the intern stayed. “She told her friends that Slaton drove her home the next morning, stopping at a drugstore so she could obtain emergency contraception on the way, according to the report.” Considering Slaton’s 2021 bill to make all things abortion punishable by death, mightn’t he consider purchasing a Plan B morning after pill a capital offense?
In the wake of the Slaton allegations and investigation, the Texas Senate filed a bill that would enforce “maximum sentencing” for adults giving minors alcohol. The state House voted unanimously on an amendment to a similar bill that would mandate the crime as a class A misdemeanor, carrying with it a $4,000 fine and one year in jail if a “public officer” was the person providing the alcohol.
The 45-year-old anti-abortion, transphobic, secession-minded lawmaker found himself in some deep dookie. The east Texan is not known for having made many friends because of his frothing right-wing antics. Slaton has been married since 2017, and his biography boasts of a seminary school education and his service “as a Youth and Family Minister for 13 years.”
He made headlines by proposing legislation that would make any abortion a capital crime. Last year he pushed for a full ban on children attending drag story time shows, telling the Associated Press: “Children don’t need to be focused on sex and sexualization, and we need to let them just grow up to be children and let them do that as they’re getting closer to being an adult.” He also claimed he was hoping to protect minors from “perverted adults.”
It is a difficult enough feat to be considered one of the furthest right-wing Republican lawmakers in Texas, let alone to get expelled—by a Republican majority—for bad behavior. All you need to do is type “Attorney General Ken Paxton” and “corruption” into Google to see how hard it is to get in trouble in the modern Republican Party.
Republican Committee Chairman Andrew Murr said he expected a resolution calling for Slaton’s expulsion to be brought to the floor on Tuesday, though Slaton’s resignation manifestly obviates that. It would take two-thirds of the state House to vote Slaton out of office, and the votes were clearly there.
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