A GOP state lawmaker who fled Texas on a private jet said he did so for his family after his house

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

flooded and the power went out

A Texas state representative sparked a backlash locally after he and his family took a private jet from Texas to Orlando, Florida, amid winter weather that devastated much of Texas and caused the US government to declare a major disaster in the state.

State Rep. Gary Gates, a Republican who represents District 28 in the Texas House of Representatives, told Click2Houston he left Texas when he lost power to his home and a pipe burst, causing flooding to "30%" of his home.

"Because of my wife's illness that she's had for a couple of weeks and my handicapped daughter with her area of the house being flooded, I was just trying to find some easier accommodations for them and I was trying to find a place where I could continue to work and do the things I needed to do," Gates said, according to the outlet.

Gates told Click2Houston he felt he was more "productive" in Florida than he would have been if he remained in Texas.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-state-lawmaker-fled-texas-210511524.html

Maybe he should stay there.

[abqtommy]

1. Well, we all have different resources at our disposal so I might not blame this guy for using

Last edited Sun Feb 21, 2021, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

what was available to him. But I would vote him out of office...

[Grins]

10. In his case, a private JET. NM

[Demsrule86]

18. I would never vote for such a lying piece of crap...I hope Texas throws these people out.

[jpak]

2. Another GQP coward throws his family under the bus

Run Away!!

Run Away!!!

[malaise]

22. THIS

[Rustyeye77]

3. What is "wife illness" ?

How is her daughter handcapped ?

[harumph]

4. IF it is true that his daughter is handicapped and his wife was ill -

I won't throw stones...BUT it's (probably) not true. Will reserve judgement on this one.

[LeftInTX]

14. Yikes!

[Ilsa]

25. I'll give him a pass.

It only takes one child with extreme disabilities to put a family in chaos under the best circumstances. God bless them for adopting older kids and their siblings to keep them together.

We are at our wits' end right now. I have zero help for my autistic adult son, and he's been frustrated and violent for the past six months. He injured my husband this weekend to the point he cannot participate in his care, and beat on me this morning, including hitting me in the head.

To top it off, my MIL has dementia that is rapidly advancing. She has occasional episodes of delirium, but usually is just paranoid and bipolar, accusing us of hitting her, etc.

[Skittles]

31. oh dear

I am so sorry, Ilsa....I have a severely autistic brother but he has never been violent.

[Ilsa]

34. My psychiatrist just upped

my dosage of an antidepressant. My thoughts have definitely been darker over the last four months.

For example, I was relieved and happy about the Biden/Harris win, but I couldn't really feel it. On Thanksgiving, I got so aggravated with my MIL (who was verbally abusing me) that I told my husband I'd had enough of her, and while I wanted to call her a bitch, I stopped and told him, "Your mother is not a nice person." He responded, "I know. She's always been unstable. The neighbors had to call the cops on her when I was in 5th grade. I was mortified." She has called the cops on him three times over the last year, including once at 1:30am.

We'll be putting her into a Memory Care Center as soon as we can get it worked out, but she threw out all of her vital documents, so we are having to get certified copies of everything.

I'm really glad that the time I spent in nursing with elderly patients did not include dementia patients. I would have resigned my license. I'm not cut out for it.

[Skittles]

37. I cannot imagine what kind of people work with dementia patients

true angels on earth, I imagine

I'm glad you are getting help with your depression.....remember that someone is always here on DU too, we are here for you

[Mr.Bill]

5. Fine, if his story is true.

But the most credible thing he can do right now is to tell the people of Texas what he will do to keep this from happening again.

[frogmarch]

6. He and his wife have 11 adoptive children and

two biological children. I'm not ready to judge him on leaving.

[Rustyeye77]

8. Whoa.

He wins

[Ms. Toad]

11. This may change your mind.

All the children were removed from the home (and, unfortunately - from what I can find - returned). Here are some details.

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/a-fathers-retribution-6563698

Travis Gates arrived that Friday morning at Dickinson Elementary School, where he attends fourth grade, with a Ziploc bag full of empty Fig Newton wrappers stapled to his shirt and a note from Gary Gates explaining that Travis was to wear the bag all day, that he was not allowed to attend a school Valentine's Day party, that this was his punishment for stealing food.

Travis, who has an eating disorder that leads him to compulsively steal, hoard and binge on food, presumably related to "attachment" issues born of early neglect and fetal alcohol syndrome, had sneaked out of a window at home and back in another window into the kitchen, which is habitually locked at night to control the children's access. He took a bulk box of Fig Newtons back to his room and stuffed himself. A nanny discovered the wrappers hidden in the attic and told Gary.

The Gates children had told stories -- not entirely consistent in detail, but compellingly similar in gist -- of a household run by a disciplinarian who may have crossed the line. There were stories of ipecac syrup, "throw-up medicine," given to several children, and meals dosed with cayenne pepper as punishment. There were stories not just of hauling two-by-fours and bricks as discipline, but of spankings with a board. The children recounted having to do "wall sits" as punishment, sometimes with a 25-pound or 50-pound weight in their laps, sometimes for hours at a time. It was learned that several of the Gates children wet their beds, and that Gary and Melissa keep a chart downstairs on which these children must note in the mornings whether their diapers are dry. Children caught stealing food would have to miss the next meal. Several children spoke of Gary taping newspaper around their hands, or handcuffing them, to keep them from stealing food.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. I Hope That Isn't True

For the kids' sake.
If they are true, this guy needs to be brought up on charges of abuse.

[Ms. Toad]

13. Not charges - but his children were briefly taken away from him.

It appears he bought his way out of it.

If you read the article I linked to, he admits much of it - he just disagrees that his method of disciplining children is inappropriate.

The empty fig newton stapled to the child's shirt was what triggered the call to CPS that resulted in removing all 13 children from his home briefly.

His acknowledgement of the substance of some of the accusations:

Besides, Gary Gates has some plausible deniability of his own.

Yes, he has administered ipecac syrup to two of his 13 children on, he thinks, four occasions over the years. Little Lexie sometimes eats whole pecans off the ground on the Gates property, and Travis once ate a whole loaf of moldy bread out of a garbage can. That's what ipecac syrup is for.

Yes, he once put a pair of T.J.'s plastic toy handcuffs on Travis, for about 30 minutes, after a family discussion of a newspaper account of a California man who received a mandatory 20-year sentence for stealing a pizza. Gary says he wanted to show Travis something of what it might feel like to have his freedom taken away if he kept stealing food. The spanking "board" is a paddle. Travis is not weighed every day, only when he appears bloated from gorging, and he is weighed on a bathroom scale that doesn't even register ounces. Yes, Gary kicked Travis, with the side of his foot on the rump, to get him moving. Yes, he kicked a chair out from under him and pushed him to the wall. "I meant to seem very angry and threatening to him, which I believe I achieved." When Gary suggested the wrappers-stapled-to-shirt punishment, Travis cried, and this was encouraging to his parents, who had struggled to break through Travis's lack of remorse, and Melissa approved the tactic.

[littlemissmartypants]

26. Benefits of fostering then adopting in Texas...

$ 400 a month per child to foster.

$1200 on time payment for adopting special needs

$545 per child per month after adopted until 18 yrs of age

Does Texas provide specialized rates (based on the extraordinary needs of the child or the additional parenting skill needed to raise the child)?

For children whose foster care service level is Moderate or higher at the time of adoptive placement, the maximum adoption assistance payment is $545 per month. The actual payment is determined in a negotiation process between the adoptive parents and the state.

When do adoption assistance payments begin?

Adoption assistance payments and benefits may begin the first day of the month after the month of the adoptive placement.

When a child turns 18, which benefits, if any, continue?

Typically, a child may receive adoption assistance only through the month of his or her 18th birthday. Beginning October 1, 2010, certain youth adopted as older teens may receive extended adoption assistance benefits through the month in which they turn 21.

In Texas, what nonrecurring adoption expenses directly related to the finalization of an adoption may be reimbursed?

Parents can be reimbursed up to $1,200 per child in nonrecurring adoption expenses such as reasonable and necessary adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, and other expenses that are directly related to legal completion of the adoption not incurred in violation of state or federal law.

References

https://wehavekids.com/adoption-fostering/What-does-being-a-foster-parent-really-pay

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/adoption/adoptive/expenses/adoption-assistance/

https://www.nacac.org/help/adoption-assistance/adoption-assistance-us/state-programs/texas-state-adoption-assistance-program/

There are also federal incentives for fostering and adoption of fosters.

Jus' sayin'

❤ miss pants

[joshcryer]

36. Human trafficking for profit.

I remember the migrant kids who were holed up in rented out buildings with people "guarding" them to the tune of $600 a day. I calculated once that the couple who did that to those kids walked with a cool half a million (they had like 20 kids). Easy babysitting job, stealing taxpayer money.

[frogmarch]

16. It did! WTF!

Thank you for enlightening me. I mean it. Holy crap, Gates sounds like a monster!

[Ms. Toad]

17. All I was looking for was what kind of handicap his daughter had.

I got way more than I bargained for.

[Ilsa]

35. You're right. I'm not going to cut him much slack.

Sounds like they are generating income on the kids, and are not treating them well. I hope they turn 18 quickly.

[Act_of_Reparation]

20. He's also sitting on a bajillion US American Dollar Clams.

There's no reason he, himself, needed to go to Florida.

[littlemissmartypants]

23. Please excuse my ignorance but what's a dollar clam? nt

[Act_of_Reparation]

24. The current exchange rate of US American Dollar Clams to US Dollars is...

... 1:1.

I'm saying the guy is ridiculously rich.

[littlemissmartypants]

27. HA! Got it!

Thanks.

❤

[Thomas Hurt]

7. Maybe Florida can be become the new Trumpfuckistan...

[multigraincracker]

15. Did the round trip ticket include the free

case of COVID?

[AllaN01Bear]

19. i thought all us citizens had to be tested before returing to the us.

but wait im talking about an r here . and on a private jet too. t

[SlogginThroughIt]

21. I am fine with his family taking off. Him not so much.

[RicROC]

32. I agree, but

I would think having impressional children around Qruz, learning to act like he does, might be considered child abuse.

[DallasNE]

28. Dumber Than A Sack Of Rocks

His house has a main shutoff valve where the water enters the house. Shutting the water off and then draining the pipes out would have prevented the bursting pipes. Another preventative measure would have been to fast drip faucets to keep the water flowing in the exposed areas. But being from Texas nobody can tell him what to do making him dumber than a sack of rocks.

[Skittles]

30. why wouldn't he explain this stuff BEFORE taking the trip

because like Cruz, he thought he would get away with it

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

33. Maybe he should quit the Texas House so he "can spend more time with his family."

That's the usual excuse for leaving early, isn't it?