The Texas Capitol
Quite a few women who work in and around the Texas Capitol have taken note this week of what can only be described as a sexist and bizarre blog written by Weston Hicks of the website AgendaWise. Hicks described women in the lobby and female reporters as “whores,” legislative staffers as “oxen,” and suggested there is lots of sex going on between them for information and favors.
From the post:
“Believe it or not, Austin has actual political whores. They don’t think of themselves that way, but others do, and that is what they are. They may be a disgrace to their families, but they are rife in Austin. In their minds they are just being ‘liberated women,’ only they are professionally rewarded for being ‘liberated’ in the vicinity of men with crucial intelligence or strategic access to power. It is especially important to find weak links to access in the Austin clan who don’t pledge allegiance to the current special interest regime – conservatives – and this caliber of woman can do this job uniquely well.”
After quoting from the Bible, Hicks goes on to say:
“It is important for legislators to make sure they, and the oxen they hire, don’t go to slaughter behind a media or lobby concubine. Claiming this kind of thing is simply ‘a private matter’ is nothing more than a declaration of weak leadership. It is not only a private matter. It involves their political bride – their district.”
The full post is here.
AgendaWise Executive Director Daniel Greer did not respond to our request for comment.
Quorum Report readers may recall that Greer got into some hot water of his own back in 2013 for bigoted comments after he bizarrely tweeted about Democratic mega-donor Steve Mostyn while using the word “fag.”
On Thursday afternoon, longtime lobbyist Steve Bresnen said Hicks should apologize and be fired from AgendaWise for his words.
“Calling our female colleagues ‘whores’ and ‘concubines’ while wrapping your bizarre opinions in Proverbs displays the worst kind of cynicism and raises the question: Have you people become so unhinged from civil society that you no longer recognize common decency?” Bresnen asked. “I challenge Mike Sullivan and Tim Dunn to disavow Hicks’s blog post and summarily terminate his employment—TODAY,” he said.
The “Mike Sullivan” Bresnen referred to is Michael Quinn Sullivan, the spokesman for Midland oilman Tim Dunn and president of Empower Texans.
Sullivan told QR he is no longer affiliated with AgendaWise. He said he resigned from its board a couple years ago. “I am not involved with AgendaWise and do not have any contact information for them other than what is on their website,” Sullivan said.
That’s despite the fact Sullivan and Dunn are still listed by the Secretary of State as two of three directors of AgendaWise. When Sullivan was asked if the SOS should update the filing, he said “Not my job.”
Copyright January 29, 2015, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved. Reprinted with permission.
