246: Andrew Puzder

Andrew Puzder was the CEO of CKE Foods, the company that owns Hardee’s and Carl Jr.’s. He was a big Trump supporter and donated several hundred thousand to Trump’s campaign. He was someone Trump wanted to make Secretary of Labor. His appointment required Senate confirmation and there was heavy opposition in the Senate. He withdrew his nomination. One of the many reasons his nomination was opposed was that his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence on the Oprah Winfrey show though she later recanted.

• Politico: Puzder’s ex-wife told Oprah he threatened, “you will pay for this.”
• Hollywood Reporter: Labor Secretary Nominee’s Ex-Wife Claimed He Vowed Revenge in Newly Public Video from Oprah Episode.
• Bust: Here Are The Abuse Allegations Against Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Andrew Puzder
• Refinery29: Why Would Someone Recant Abuse Allegations?

The Boston Globe
16 Feb 2017

216: Raymond Liddy

Raymond Liddy is the son of G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate burglar who infamously suggested people should shoot federal law enforcement agents from the ATF in the head because they wear body armor. He worked as state deputy attorney general in California. He was also convicted of possession of child pornography.

Although conservative media identify him as a Democrat and the circulating list of Democratic sex offenders includes him, his entire campaign-giving history is Republican. Click here for FEC info.

In 2017, an ISP sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The activity was tracked back to his home and he was arrested. In September 2020, he was sentenced to five years probation, a sentence made more lenient because of the need to keep prison less populous during the pre-vaccine stage of the COVID pandemic. Even though he was only sentenced to probation, he has appealed his conviction. You can watch the hearing here.

• Fox5 San Diego: Raymond Liddy, ex-deputy attorney general and son of key Watergate figure, gets probation for possessing child porn
• Raymond Liddy Criminal Complaint
• San Diego Tribune: Former state prosecutor gets probation in child porn case
• California State Bar: Raymond Liddy

Santa Barbara News-Press
28 July 2017

121: Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn created many of the most popular and well-known Las Vegas casinos. He was also the Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee. He is a huge Republican donor. He was forced to resign from his Wynn Resorts company and the RNC finance position because of sexual harassment allegations. He was also accused of rape though a judge ruled that the allegation was defamatory and awarded Wynn $1 in damages.

• New York Times: Steven Wynn, Casino Mogul accused of decades of sexual misconduct
• New York Times: Wynn leaders helped hide sexual misconduct allegations
• NPR: GOP Welcomes Wynn’s Millions despite rape and harassment allegations
• Las Vegas Review Journal: Steve Wynn sexual harassment suit moves forward

Reno Gazette Journal
05 Aug 2021

47: Richard A. Dasen Sr

Richard A. Dasen, Sr. was a big donor to Republican candidates and causes as well as running Christian Financial Counseling for people who got into debt. He also spent a lot of money on sex workers, some of them underage, and he used his position to extort sex from women in financial trouble.

He claimed he spent more than a million dollars on sex workers. It’s closer to five million. His DNA was also found at the scene of a woman’s murder but the police said considering how much he spread his DNA around, that’s not surprising. He was arrested while with a fifteen-year-old girl which is rape.

• Washington Post: Sex Scandal Rocks Montana Town
• Flathead Living: Kalispell’s Only Unsolved Murder
• MT Supreme Court: State V Dasen
• Helena Independent Record: Teen details alleged web of prostitution

Great Falls Tribune
16 Aug 2004

18: Mark A. Grethen

Once “Republican of the Year” and a big Republican donor, Mark A. Grethen was accused of sexually assaulting his children and convicted of Indecent Liberties with a Child by a Custodia, Forcible Sodomy, and Aggravated Sexual Battery. He raped his own children who were five and three at the time. He pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of six of the 26 counts against him.

In 2021, he was murdered in prison after serving nearly 20 years.

• Virginia State Police: Mark A. Grethen Sex Offender Registry
• Grethen V. Johnson, District Court VA 2006, Grethen appeal denied
• Law and Crime: Top Republican Donor Killed in Prison after serving nearly two decades for sexually assaulting two children

Abbeville Meridional
14 Feb 2002

Johnson City Press
3 March 2002
Notes rescinding “Republican of the Year”

17: Richard A. Delgaudio

Richard A. Delgaudio was a prominent GOP activist and fundraiser in northern Virginia before he pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge and was sentenced to two years probation. Delgaudio created child pornography, paying a sixteen-year-old girl to pose for him at a motel in Baltimore. There were pictures of him having sex with her. There were additional pictures of at least one other child who was 15, but the judge threw out his three albums of child pornography because the police improperly searched him.

At that time, he was president of Legal Affairs Council Inc., chairman and director of United States Intelligence Council, and president of National Security Center Inc. They were all conservative interest groups. His brother, Eugene Delgaudio, ran Public Advocate, an anti-gay interest group.

His child porn conviction does not seem to have harmed his career, according to Linked In.

• Washington Post: GOP Activist Admits to Child Porn
• Baltimore Sun: Fundraiser for GOP pleads guilty in case of child pornography
• WBAL: Conservative Fundraiser on probation for child porn

Baltimore Sun
24 April 2003

5: Joseph Russell Dendy

Joseph Russell Dendy was a Georgia Republican power broker. As Chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, the home county of former Speaker Newt Gingrich, he networked with the Republican party greats, working on many campaigns, including for Mike Huckabee who is such good buddies with child molesters Ted Nugent and Josh Duggar.

Meanwhile, Dendy spent 55 years molesting children, beginning his predation on other children when he was just sixteen. His victims who have come forward allege abuse when as young as four. With potentially dozens of victims over more than fifty years, this is as horrific as it comes. There are also victims from other states whose allegations have not been adjudicated.

• The Daily Beast: GOP Power Player and Accused Child Molester
• Atlanta Journal Constitution: Cobb County former GOP chair Dendy indicted on molestation charges
• MDJOnline: Former Cobb GOP Chair Dendy pleads guilty, gets 30 years
• Joseph Russell Dendy website

The Atlantic Journal Constitution
09 August 2016