REPORT: ‘Family Values’ GOP State Lawmaker Who Resigned for Having Sex in His Office Sexually Assaulted Teen

Republican Was Tied to Tony Perkins

Wes Goodman this week resigned from his position as an Ohio State Representative. The story remained, for the most part, local, but Goodman is now the subject of a shocking story.

Goodman resigned after being caught having sex with a man in his Ohio state legislature office. On his campaign website which has since been taken down (archive copy), Goodman told voters that for more than six years he worked for Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, “developing and promoting constitutional, fiscally responsible, pro-family policies for the congressman, whom many regard as ‘the conscience of the conservative movement.'”

(Jordan is an anti-LGBT evangelical extremist who founded the far right wing House Freedom Caucus. He is a conspiracy theorist who promotes Breitbart.)

Wes Goodman’s campaign site is sprinkled with conservative code words. It says he also worked to “protect life and religious liberty, enhance conservative messaging, and hold Congress accountable to voters.”

“Our heartland values are worth fighting for,” says Wes. “Faith, family, service, stewardship, strong education, and investment in our local communities are what Ohioans value. My wife Bethany and I value those same things and are ready to get to work to serve you.”

“We need a culture that protects family, marriage, mothers, and fathers. By recognizing that communities supportive of intact, healthy, thriving families are the best environments in which to raise our children, we will renew Ohio as a place we are proud to call home.”

Clearly the picture Goodman painted was far different than reality.

According to a Washington Post report published Friday evening, Goodman sexually assaulted a sleeping college student at an event hosted by Tony Perkins, a far right wing evangelical Christian activist who runs the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council, among other groups.

“On a fall evening two years ago, donors gathered during a conference at a Ritz-Carlton hotel near Washington to raise funds for a 31-year-old candidate for the Ohio legislature who was a rising star in evangelical politics,” The Washington Post report on Goodman begins.

“Hours later, upstairs in a hotel guest room, an 18-year-old college student who had come to the event with his parents said the candidate unzipped his pants and fondled him in the middle of the night. The frightened teenager fled the room and told his mother and stepfather, who demanded action from the head of the organization hosting the conference.”

That organization is the Council for National Policy, whose president is Tony Perkins. The Post notes that “its membership has included prominent figures in the conservative movement such as Breitbart News chairman and former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and embattled Senate candidate Moore.”

The victim’s stepfather emailed Tony Perkins.

“If we endorse these types of individuals, then it would seem our whole weekend together was nothing more than a charade,” the stepfather wrote to Tony Perkins, president of the Council for National Policy. 

“Trust me . . . this will not be ignored nor swept aside,” replied Perkins, who also heads the Family Research Council, a prominent evangelical activist group. “It will be dealt with swiftly, but with prudence.” 

The incident, described in emails and documents obtained by The Washington Post, never became public, nor did unspecified prior “similar incidents” Perkins referred to in a letter to candidate Wesley Goodman. The correspondence shows Perkins privately asked Goodman to drop out of the race and suspended him from the council, but Goodman continued his campaign and went on to defeat two fellow Republicans in a hotly contested primary before winning his seat last November.

It’s unknown if Perkins hid Goodman’s actions.

“We are so sick of people knowing and doing nothing. If someone knew, they had an obligation to say something. That’s what you do. That’s how you hold society together,” said Thomas R. Zawistowski, president of Ohio Citizens PAC, a conservative group that endorsed Goodman.

U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) had endorsed Goodman: “I’ve known Wes Goodman for nearly a decade. For much of that time he was a part of our team, helping me serve the families and taxpayers of our part of Ohio. Today, I proudly endorse Wes in his campaign for the Ohio House of Representatives. I’ve seen firsthand Wes’s commitment to fighting for our conservative values and principles. He has the character, experience, and passion to serve the families and taxpayers of our part of Ohio in the Statehouse. I hope you will join me in supporting Wes, a new bold, energetic conservative leader for Ohio!”

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Hat tip: Joe.My.God.

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