A Texas state representative resigned Monday after an investigation determined he supplied alcohol to a 19-year-old aide and had sex with her at his apartment.
Republican Bryan Slaton, a 45-year-old former youth minister and married father, resigned just two days after the Texas House committee found he violated multiple rules for the inappropriate relationship with the young woman “who was unable to give effective consent” because Slaton was her boss.
The committee of three Republicans and two Democrats unanimously recommended Slaton be expelled from the House in their report. The House planned to vote on a resolution expelling him from office on Tuesday.
The conservative pol invited the teenage legislative aide to his apartment on March 31, supplied her with rum and cokes to the point she felt “really dizzy” and had “split vision” and then had sexual intercourse with the young woman, who was a virgin, early the next morning, according to the House committee report.
Slaton later showed the young staffer a threatening email he told her he received and said everyone involved had to stay quiet, the report stated.
The legislative aide said she took the message as a “threat” but didn’t know who it was coming from. Nonetheless she said she felt intimidated and fearful that she could lose her job.
The committee hired a former state judge to investigate the incident after the aide and two other young staffers, ages 19 and 21 — who were at Slaton’s apartment before he had intercourse with the aide — filed complaints against him in April.
The Texas lawmaker also supplied those two staffers and one of their boyfriends with rum and cokes, causing one to vomit from drinking too much, according to the report.
They left before the legislative aide, who was driven home by Slaton the next morning after he stopped at a drug store so she could purchase emergency contraception, the report states.
The judge confirmed the complaints were accurate as committee members called Slaton’s actions “grave and serious.”
“The fact that Slaton has not expressed regret or remorse for his conduct is also egregious and unwarranted,” the committee wrote. “It is the Committee’s unanimous recommendation that, considering the factors stated above, the only appropriate discipline in this matter is expulsion.”
Slaton mentioned nothing about his alleged inappropriate relationship with the 19-year-old staffer or the impending expulsion vote in his resignation letter to Gov. Gerg Abbott on Monday.
“It has been an honor to represent my friends, neighbors and the great people and communities of House District 2,” Slaton wrote. “They voted overwhelmingly to send me to the Capitol as their representative in two elections, and I worked daily to meet their expectations. My decision today is to ensure that their expectations will continue to be met by a new representative who will also work hard on their behalf.”
The House may still vote whether to expel Slaton Tuesday.
Committee member Rep. Andrew Murr, who drafted the explosion resolution, said Monday that he still plans to call for a vote.
“Though Representative Slaton has submitted his resignation from office, under Texas law he is considered to be an officer of this state until a successor is elected and takes the oath of office to represent Texas House District 2,” Murr wrote on Facebook.
Slaton was one of the staunchest critics of drag shows and trans rights — claiming children were being sexualized and groomed by both, without providing evidence to back his claims.
“We must protect Texas kids from sick adults who want to sexualize them. No drag shows. No porn in their libraries. No gender transition surgeries. Yes to letting kids be kids,” he tweeted on April 4, just three days after he had inappropriate sexual relations with his teenage staffer.
Between 2017 and 2021, at least 120 state lawmakers across 41 states faced public allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment, according to the Associated Press.
With Post wires