{"id":1532,"date":"2004-04-06T11:48:39","date_gmt":"2004-04-06T16:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/1532.html"},"modified":"2004-04-06T11:48:39","modified_gmt":"2004-04-06T16:48:39","slug":"texas-republican-candidate-had-a-fondness-for-womens-apparel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/texas-republican-candidate-had-a-fondness-for-womens-apparel\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Republican candidate had a ‘fondness for women’s apparel’"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I said I’d like Republicans to have a stronger appreciation for women, this isn’t what I meant. <\/p>\n

Via the Political Wire<\/a>, we learn of today’s most amusing political story, which deals with a Republican legislative candidate — in Texas, of all places — who is under a little pressure because photos of him in women’s clothing<\/a> are circulating throughout his community.<\/p>\n

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/a>:<\/p>\n

His family made a fortune on men’s work clothing. But it’s Sam Walls’ apparent fondness for women’s apparel that is dividing the Johnson County Republican Party.<\/p>\n

Walls, 64, is in the April 13 GOP primary runoff against Burleson real estate broker Rob Orr for the House District 58 seat. As a leading businessman, former Republican Party chairman and benefactor of Harris Methodist Walls Regional Hospital, Walls seemed the odds-on favorite to win.<\/p>\n

The victor is likely to succeed Arlene Wohlgemuth in the Texas Legislature.<\/p>\n

But then pictures of Walls in women’s clothing — several of which were provided to the Star-Telegram — began circulating late last week around Burleson and Cleburne, rival towns on opposite ends of the district.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nNot surprisingly, the local Republican Party has suggested to Walls that a man who enjoyed wearing women’s clothes probably won’t do well in a GOP primary in Texas. Walls, however, acknowledges that he had an Ed Wood-like problem but refuses to withdraw from the race.<\/p>\n

After rebuffing Republicans who asked him to pull out Monday, he faxed a statement to the Star-Telegram saying he would not give in to “blackmail” from opponents who are trying to use “very old, personal information” to force him out.<\/p>\n

“Through intermediaries, my opponent told me to drop out of the campaign or the private information would be released,” Walls said. “Now my opponent is using the private information in an attempt to intimate that I am a homosexual, which I am not.”<\/p>\n

Walls said his family had “dealt with” the issue and he asked for forgiveness.<\/p>\n

“I apologize for any embarrassment caused to supporters by my opponent’s disclosure of a small part of my personal past,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Umm, Sam, no offense, but the embarrassment wasn’t caused by the “opponents’ disclosure”; it was caused by photographs of you in women’s dresses, wigs, and makeup.<\/p>\n

My favorite spin of them all came from GOP Treasurer Roy Giddens Jr., a Walls supporter.<\/p>\n

“I don’t have a problem with cross-dressing,” Giddens said. “There are lots of them. People think J. Edgar Hoover was one of the greatest Americans that ever lived. He was a cross-dresser.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Republican tolerance never ceases to impress me. They don’t much care for gays, blacks, Hispanics, atheists, Muslims, Jews, or the French, but they “don’t have a problem with cross-dressing.” Amazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I said I’d like Republicans to have a stronger appreciation for women, this isn’t what I meant. Via the Political Wire, we learn of today’s most amusing political story, which deals with a Republican legislative candidate — in Texas, of all places — who is under a little pressure because photos of him in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}