Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.)Official photo
Who could have anticipated that the former owner of sexguideonline.com might get into trouble as a congressman? On Tuesday, Politico broke the news that freshman congressman Henry “Trey” Radel (R-Fla.) was arrested on cocaine possession charges in DC last month and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. (DC Superior Court records on the charges can be found here.)
Radel, a tea party favorite and a Fox News radio host, came to office with an unusual background, having run a business that bought somewhat pornographic sex-themed domain names in both English and Spanish, as Mother Jones reported last year. Radel’s business snagged all sorts of un-family-friendly domain names, including www.casadelasputas.com (“whorehouse”) and www.mamadita.com (“little blow job”).
During the campaign he brushed aside whispers of “domaingate,” but eventually admitted to buying the site names after Mother Jones reported their existence. (After our story, he sent an email to supporters attacking Mother Jones as an “ultra-liberal San Francisco rag” whose “attack” on him he wore like a “badge of honor.”) Tea partiers I interviewed at the time insisted that the business was no reflection on Radel’s family values, and said they were behind him completely. From that story:
Radel supporter George Miller, the president of the Cape 9/12 group, a conservative tea-party-type organization inspired by Glenn Beck, says that he doesn’t believe Radel would register raunchy web sites to begin with. “I stand by him 100 percent,” he says. “He’s an honest guy. He’s a family guy. He’s the kind of guy I want representing me.”
Radel was hand-picked by former Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-Fla.) to fill Mack’s seat when Mack challenged Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) for Senate in 2012. Radel won a crowded Republican primary. Among those he defeated: establishment candidate Chauncy Goss, son of former CIA director Porter Goss. Chauncy Goss was endorsed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Tea partiers dismissed Goss as too much of an insider and threw their weight behind Radel, who had never held elected office before.
Just weeks ago, Radel won some accolades for becoming one of the few Republicans to support drug sentencing reform. He cosponsored the Justice Safety Valve Act, which would provide an exception to mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws to allow shorter sentences for nonviolent, low-level offenders. Radel may get a chance to see how such a law works first hand. He was arrested in DC, which has a special drug court that is designed to funnel low-level addicts into rehab rather than long-term jail time.
Tuesday night, Radel released a statement apologizing to his family and blaming his troubles on alcoholism, a problem he said he would be able to get help with thanks to his arrest. He hasn’t said whether he’ll try to keep his seat.
