VA-05: Republican congressman's gay wedding role draws challenge at parking lot convention

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

POLITICS JUNE 12, 2020 / 5:26 PM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO

Republican congressman's gay wedding role draws challenge at parking lot convention

John Whitesides
3 MIN READ

(Reuters) - U.S. Representative Denver Riggleman, who drew criticism from some fellow Virginia Republicans after presiding at a gay wedding last year, faces a primary challenge on Saturday at a drive-through nominating convention being held in a church parking lot.

Riggleman, a first-term congressman endorsed by President Donald Trump, angered some social conservatives when he officiated at the same-sex wedding of two former campaign volunteers last summer.

Riggleman defended the wedding as a matter of individual liberty. But the backlash helped fuel a challenge by Bob Good, a religious conservative and former athletics administrator at Liberty University in Virginia.

“Some Republicans in the district saw it as a sharp contrast to their traditional Christian values,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-virginia/republican-congressmans-gay-wedding-role-draws-challenge-at-parking-lot-convention-idUSKBN23J34N

[sunonmars]

1. They wouldn't know true "christian" values if it bit them on the ass.

[phylny]

2. This is my district, and Republicans sure know how to pick them.

The previous congressman, Tom Garrett, did not seek reelection because of alcoholism (I won't be critical of THAT), and because he misused his staffers and the office (I'm very critical of that).

From the below-mentioned article:

"Staffers in Garrett’s office were asked to carry groceries for the congressman and his wife, care for their dog, drive and service their car, schedule their medical appointments and help them move between apartments, according to the report. Garrett also asked staffers to help his children obtain passports and apply to schools, buy him cigarettes and give tours to people who were not his constituents, the report states.

"Several staffers told the committee that Garrett’s wife 'would berate staff, often using profanity and other harsh language, for failing to prioritize her needs over their regular official duties.'

"In one text message to the congressman’s chief of staff, Flanna Garrett wrote: 'NONE of what I asked to be done with the phone was done. Not a f****** thing. I am going to sit down with some of your staff and tell them how f****** disrespectful and STUPIDLY shortsighted they are for completely disregarding every thing [sic] I asked them to do.'"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-ethics-committee-says-rep-tom-garrett-misused-official-resources-was-trying-to-run-out-the-clock-on-probe/2019/01/02/9dbd3e94-0eec-11e9-84fc-d58c33d6c8c7_story.html

Riggleman is just a Trump boot-licker. Neither of these guys held public town hall meetings. The district will be fixed to rid itself of the gerrymandering soon. My area will probably still be Red, but maybe Charlottesville can free itself from the Republican congressperson nightmare.