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Tag: representative
Mike Johnson

'Insecure' House Speaker Faces Raging Divisions In GOP Congress

After former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as speaker, thanks in part to a "motion to vacate" from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the House of Representatives' small Republican majority went through weeks of chaos before confirming Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) for the position.

Johnson, after his confirmation, promised to end the chaos and run the House like a "well-oiled machine." But the chaos remains as his caucus deals with everything from GOP resignations to the possibility of a partial government shutdown.

Bloomberg News reporters Steven T. Dennis and Billy House examine Johnson's problems in an article published on February 23.

According to the journalists, "multiple senior House Republicans" who were interviewed on condition of anonymity "now portray Johnson as an insecure leader who faces a steep learning curve."

"Those GOP lawmakers complain Johnson keeps counsel mostly with an insular circle of his own staffers on even the most challenging matters — and that some senior colleagues are treated as objects of suspicion rather than allies," Dennis and House explain. "They cite two back-to-back humiliating defeats in one early February evening, when the House not only rejected an Israel-only war aid package Johnson put up for a vote, but also, a marquee Republican impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas…. Johnson rallied his party the following week to impeach Mayorkas on a second try, prevailing by a single vote after Republican Steve Scalise returned from cancer treatment."

Johnson, according to Dennis and House, is coping with "a Republican majority at war with itself." And conservative Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is warning that House Republicans will suffer politically if they drop the ball with military aid to Ukraine.

"If (Vladimir) Putin wins," the reporters quote Tillis as saying, "Republicans will lose."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Florida Congressman Asks For Annulment, Accuses Wife Of Bigamy

Florida Congressman Asks For Annulment, Accuses Wife Of Bigamy

By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. — When U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) married his wife, she was already wed to another man, according to a new court filing by the congressman’s lawyers, seeking an annulment on the basis of bigamy.

In new court paperwork filed in the couple’s divorce case last week, days before their 24th anniversary, Grayson accuses Lolita Grayson of fraud, unjust enrichment and misrepresentation, among other claims.

He’s also suing for defamation, the new document states, stemming from a disturbance at their home in March. Lolita Grayson accused her husband of shoving her, but later dropped her petition for a domestic injunction.

Lolita Grayson’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a call or emails seeking comment on Tuesday.

Alan Grayson’s new filing, a counter-petition to her January divorce filing, states that when he met Lolita Grayson in 1985, she “represented herself as single in order to induce Mr. Grayson to marry her.”

The paperwork refers to the couple’s union as a “bigamous marriage.” Lolita Grayson filed a false application for their marriage license, it says, asserting that she had been divorced since 1981.

“Unbeknownst to Mr. Grayson,” the filing adds, “Ms. Grayson was married and remained married to another man… up to and after the parties conducted an apparent marriage ceremony on April 28, 1990.”

Several years after marrying Alan Grayson, Lolita Grayson “secretly participated” in a divorce from her prior husband, a man named Robert Carson, in Broward County, Fla., the documents state.

Attached to the congressman’s counter-petition was a document dated March 7, 1994, purported to be a final divorce judgment. It lists Lolita Carson as the respondent, and Robert Carson as the petitioner.

Alan Grayson’s counter-petition argues that his marriage to Lolita Grayson led to her “unjust enrichment,” and that he has suffered “humiliation, emotional distress and financial damages.”

The congressman’s filing asks Circuit Judge Bob LeBlanc to annul their marriage, order Lolita Grayson to “make an accounting of all of the money and property she has received” and establish a trust, “providing for their return to Mr. Grayson.”

The new court paperwork also accuses Lolita Grayson of defamation, libel, slander and abuse of process, stemming from a March 1 confrontation at their home near Windermere.

Lolita Grayson filed a petition for a restraining order after the incident, alleging that Alan Grayson “deliberately and with force pushed” her against their front door, “causing (her) to fall to the ground as a result.”

However, Alan Grayson’s attorneys later released video which they said proved Lolita Grayson was the aggressor. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office declined to make an arrest, and Lolita Grayson has since dropped her petition.

“Mr. Grayson has suffered, and will continue to suffer, harm proximately caused by Ms. Grayson’s defamatory, slanderous and libelous conduct, including but not limited to mental anguish and harm to reputation,” the new filing says.

The court paperwork indicates Alan Grayson is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 on several of the counts alleged in his counter-petition, as well as punitive damages.

Lolita Grayson filed for divorce in January, saying their marriage “is irretrievably broken.” She sought joint but primary custody of their four minor children, as well as their marital home, alimony and child support.

In his counter-petition, Alan Grayson seeks parental responsibility for the children and the exclusive use of the family’s home.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons