Flyertalk Member Used Secret Congressional Fund to Settle Sexual Misconduct Charges

Congressman Blake Farenthold from Corpus Christi, Texas posted as farenthold on Flyertalk. The
‘last activity’ in his profile shows he continued to check the site while a Member of Congress. I did meet Congressman Farenthold once, at the inaugural EVA Air “Hello Kitty” flight to Houston.

From his posts online, it’s not much of a surprise he’s caught up as the latest Member of Congress in sexual harassment allegations.

Back in 2015 he was sued by his former communications director stating she was fired for complaining about his sexual comments towards her. In response he claimed,

  • he finds redheads attractive, though denied staff have to be “on redhead patrol” to keep him out of trouble.
  • he did tell staff about being propositioned for a threesome, but denied the woman suggesting it was a lobbyist.
  • he did not have sexual dreams about the former staffer suing him.

It turns out he used $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle the suit.

Here were some of his Flyertalk.com contributions:

Pregnant wife in BF with me in Y = waste of 9 hours of free booze.

Pregnant wife in Y with me in BF = waste of 9 MONTHS of my happiness.

I get upgraded. It’s my seat. I can give it to my wife if I like, or if I’m traveling alone the hot redhead in 12B in hopes of……

’92 LHR-ORD AA in F (After a week in SVO) FA thought after 4 vodka shots (they were serving caviar) I’d had enough and cut me off for the rest of the flight. She said she’d get in trouble if I appeared over served at customs. At 250 lbs and a week in Russia, 4 vodkas wasn’t even a good start on being over served..

General Rules:

The Only meal to eat at a hotel is breakfast.

Just say no to chains.

The concierge is your friend and always deserves at least a $10 tip for a good restaurant recommendation

When someone comes to your office from out of town, always invite them to dinner so they don’t spend the evening alone at their hotel.

Never room service.

Hotel bars are for cocktails only …unless you are single and looking (or are in Las Vegas where what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas )

Exceptions

No PF Changs in my hometown so it’s not a “chain” and their “bar” is more like a counter for food than drinking bar.

Hooters

5 star hotels, especially in Europe

Room service when hungover

$10 is not nearly enough for a concierge at a hotel you visit more than 3 times a year.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Another “family values” pol hypocrite. There seems to be no end of them. The more a politician talks about how moral he is the closer he should be watched. He’s probably toe-tapping under the next stall in a restroom somewhere.

  2. Another disgustingly fat Republican right-wing talk toad who no woman would ever even look at, trying to exercise his porky privilege.

    This is where Shameless began. Rush Limbaugh and his ilk mercilessly criticizing others when they were the most disgustingly hideous creatures who had ever shown themselves on the public scene.

  3. @Greg,
    Oh Im sorry, your leftist friends were too busy shaming the right for the fake War on Women until it turned out that everyone in the news these days is a Hollywood celebrity from the Left.

  4. @KL when the left realizes they’ve done something wrong, they punish their own accordingly. When you and your woman hating right wing friends realize you’ve done something wrong, you Gaslight, Obstruct, Project. The only reason why everyone in the news these days is a Hollywood celebrity is because your news sources are so biased that they ignore all the bad people on the right.

  5. Meanwhile, while the comments turn towards bashing of Republicans, a Democratic congressman from Nevada (who was taught “treat women with the utmost dignity and respect”) is being called on to resign for repeated sexual advances towards a former staffer:

    https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/former-staffer-accuses-democratic-rep-ruben-kihuen-of-sexual-harassment-top-dem-calls-him-to-resign

    How about we keep our eyes on the ball, rather than the usual partisan potshots?

  6. “when the left realizes they’ve done something wrong, they punish their own accordingly. ”

    Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.

  7. Wow, what a scumbag. This guy should be in the Senate, he’s definitely playing at Al Franken’s level.

  8. About his FT Profile “Signature”: More appropriately unctuous or smarmy? Yeah, I’m judging.

  9. Under “General Rules”, “say no to chains” caught me off-guard. Then, I realized he was referring to hotel chains. Oops.

  10. The person’s social media profile in the miles and point space did admit that he “loves a good do”. The double entendre in his words is there to be read or not.

  11. It is quite a jump to conclude that website comments posted as Farenthold equals termination of employment for complaining about harassing behavior. Looking at the postings in isolation, it is standard creative writing/double entrende garbage like you hear in a poorly edited James bond sequel. One cliche after another.
    What if she was not doing her job well? Or is there more corroborating evidence.
    By the way, the photo, does the person on the left appear unhappy or assaulted or under attack? It’s a cheesy photo where maybe everyone is happy because they are intoxicated or someone said smile and a photo is snapped. The photo proves nothing.
    The pregnant wife joke… He is stating that she cannot consume alcohol, free or not, for 9 months, while he can for nine flight hours. That’s how I read it.
    His comments about redheads were a response to some sort of deposition… Reread Gary’s post. He admitted he did find redheads attractive. Based on that, can redheaded male sue him? How about non-redheaded individuals?
    Where is the smoking gun? Where is the preponderance of evidence? I don’t see it in this post. Chappaquiddick was a million times worse.

  12. It’s obviously clear that this is Fake News. Mr. Trump says that only Democrats have poor ethics and values. FINALLY!!!! We have an honest president and administration. MAGA

  13. Hey guys ( you know who you are-or aren’t ) You’re expected to grow up and stop acting so pathetic . This is a non partisan comment .

  14. @Greg is the unhinged libtard that guaranteed United would tank after the Dao incident – how’s that United stock doing “Mr. ex-special forces?” LOL!

  15. i just don’t understand- our current president went on to be elected despite all of the sex harrrassment allegations and continues to serve with no inclination to resign…
    And no-one is talking about it anymore, but all of the other men fall??
    does not compute

  16. Wow. The twisted pretzels into which Repubicans are willing to twist themselves into, in order to deflect responsibility for their elected representatives, is amazing. Causes me to have more critical suspicion than I would have had if they had asked for investigations. As the Democrats have done. Any R who has claimed to be a Christian should, as one who has shamed our religion and degraded our country’s politics, should either ask for a serious investigation or step back from using his power until he has been cleared or found guilty of said charges.

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