Lawmaker Who Wrote Florida's "Don't Say Gay" Law Is Going to Prison for Fraud

[Guest reader]

From Entertainment.com

The lawmaker who authored Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill will serve four months in federal prison for fraud and money laundering.

Former Republican state representative Joe Harding was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Gainesville last Thursday, according to The Gainesville Sun. He was initially indicted for wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements in connection with COVID-19 relief fraud in December 2022. Specifically, Harding received more than $150,000 in pandemic relief funds that were intended to keep small businesses afloat, submitting numerous loan applications for “dormant” businesses. Although Harding initially claimed that he was not guilty, he pleaded guilty in March, with prosecutors dropping three of the charges in a plea deal.

In a press release from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Jason Coody, who announced Harding’s sentence, said that “the theft of any amount of taxpayer funds is inexcusable.”

From Russia to Florida, far-right leaders are driving a new wave of legislation that aims to erase LGBTQ\+ people from public life.

“However, the defendant’s deceptive acts of diverting emergency financial assistance from small businesses during the pandemic is simply beyond the pale,” Coody said. “Today’s sentence both punishes the defendant’s criminal conduct and should serve as a significant deterrent to others who would selfishly steal from their fellow citizens to unlawfully enrich themselves.”

 

[JKane]

[unicorn]

Sociopaths usually get their due eventually. Still waiting to see Trump sent to the jailhouse. 

[Pete1111]

The GOP Grifters that get punished are the dumb ones that don't know how to cover their tracks or the ones that piss off the wrong people. 

Sara Huckabee for example.

There had to be a more palatable way to fund a gal-pal trip to Paris with Arkansas tax revenue than claiming the $19000 was for a lectern, too easy to disprove.

The trouble with Joe Harding and the GOP is there are so many more grifters queued up to follow with more GOP grift.

Didn't Iowa Repubs actually get rid of their auditor (a Dem) which seems to give their GOP government free reign with state funds?

[lookin]

On 10/28/2023 at 10:25 AM, Pete1111 said:

Sara Huckabee for example.

There had to be a more palatable way to fund a gal-pal trip to Paris with Arkansas tax revenue than claiming the $19000 was for a lectern, too easy to disprove.

Some lectern!  😳

She says she's not going to use it though, as it could become a distraction.

And we wouldn't want that!  

 

[Latbear4blk]

2 hours ago, lookin said:

Some lectern!  😳

She says she's not going to use it though, as it could become a distraction.

And we wouldn't want that!  

 

I AM HAPPY TO READ YOU!!!!

[Stable Genius]

On 10/28/2023 at 10:25 AM, Pete1111 said:

The GOP Grifters that get punished are the dumb ones that don't know how to cover their tracks or the ones that piss off the wrong people. 

Politico reports:

Ziegler (Chairman of Florida GOP) has maintained that the sexual encounter he had with the woman who leveled the rape accusations against him was consensual. He and his wife, Moms for Liberty cofounder and Sarasota County school board member Bridget Ziegler, also acknowledged to police that they had been in a three-way sexual encounter a year earlier with the alleged victim, per a search warrant affidavit.

Don't say gay, say Three Way!