Representative Ann Johnson passionately advocated for the expulsion of Bryan Slaton from the legislature due to his behavior towards a teenage staff member.

Johnson drew on her personal experiences growing up in the political world and working as a young legislative house staffer to emphasize the severity of Slaton's actions. She argued that Slaton's behavior towards the teenage staff member was manipulative, inappropriate, and constituted sexual harassment.

Johnson highlighted the responsibility of employers to address instances of sexual harassment in the workplace and emphasizes the importance of protecting young staff members from such behavior. Throughout her speech, Johnson used powerful language to convey the severity of the situation and the need for action to be taken. Ultimately, her argument is compelling and convincing, concluding the General Investigation Committee's strong case for the expulsion of Brian Slaton from the legislature.

The Texas House of Representatives unanimously expelled Slaton.

Watch Representative Johnson's closing statement:

Outline with timestamps

Section 1: Introduction
Start time: 00:00
End time: 00:21
Representative Johnson talks about their personal connection to the legislature and how they grew up in the environment of public service.

Section 2: Sadness
Start time: 00:22
End time: 02:07
Representative Johnson expresses sadness over the misconduct of a member of the legislature and how it goes against everything they believed in and loved about the institution.

Section 3: The Misconduct
Start time: 02:08
End time: 07:29
Representative Johnson explains the misconduct of Bryan Slaton towards his teenage staffer, including the provision of alcohol and inappropriate behavior.

Section 4: Cover-up
Start time: 07:30
End time: 09:49
Representative Johnson talks about how Slaton tried to cover up his misconduct and how his office refused to cooperate with the investigation.

Section 5: Violation of Rules and Laws
Start time: 09:50
End time: 11:23
Representative Johnson explains how Slaton violated various provisions of the house rules and Texas laws and how it was important to take prompt and effective remedial action.

Section 6: Conclusion
Start time: 11:24
End time: 12:41
Representative Johnson concludes by emphasizing that Slaton is the problem and that he stained the institution that many people honor.

Full Transcript

00:00
I talked with someone the other day after we did our findings of fact and recommendation of expulsion in the matter of Bryan Slaton, and they said to me, you look sad. I am. What we have heard about and dealt with is not what I know of this body. My dad served in the legislature before I was born, and many of my parents and closest friends are the people that they met here in this building. Many of those people I still consider to this day part of my family. I grew up knowing and watching elected officials, public servants. I grew up in attending political events, community barbecues, sunny Die parties. In college, I twice served as a young legislative house staffer. During sessions, I recall the many county day parties, the people that I met, the new friends that I made, and the fun that I had with people who were my age.

01:06
I got to see how good people made law. I got to experience as a staffer how those unfortunate Texans who called as our constituents could be helped by all of us who worked in our offices, that we all were engaging in public service. And I loved it. I had an amazing experience. I think of the many mentors that I had here who created in me the foundation that makes me humble to have the opportunity to sit in these seats and to work at these desks. I am sad because the staffers that are contained in this report have had the most polar opposite experience of this building from what I had, rather than what our offices can be done to show of support for all Texans. These staffers have learned how offices can be manipulated to benefit a few. I have sat in my desk this session and I looked up and I looked around at how this room is probably exactly the same as when my parents were here in the 60s.

02:27
My parents met and fell in love here. My dad was a state representative from Houston, sitting somewhere about midway over on this right side. My mom was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News. I have heard the story a thousand times. My dad went to look for the reporter that had written an article about one of his bills. He was going to find them and tell him how wrong they were, he said. He took one look at my mom and said, you were right. They were married happily for 49 years until my dad's death. We are not here because two consenting adults met and fell in love in the Texas house. We are here because a 45 year old member took advantage of and abused his power over his subordinate teenage staffer. It started with slipping an underage girl some drink coins so that she could have her first real capital drink.

03:27
How many of us would do that with our teenage staff? It's taking photos of her and having her take photos of him, remarking of how she looks nice and remarking on her features. How many of us would do that with our teenage staff? It's sitting with her on the bus to the football game, slipping her more drinks, spending time alone with her together to the point that others start to notice and ask questions. How many of us would do that with our teenage staff? It's creating in the habit of calling in the evenings to talk and tell of the problems you're having with your wife. How many of us would do that with your teenage staff? Individually, these moments could be dismissed or even explained away. Collectively, they show a systematic pattern of manipulation. While his young family waited at home, mr. Slaton claimed to need to stay in town.

04:37
The rest of us had recessed the day before. It's now Friday night, March 31, and around 10:00 p.m.. He begins calling that same teenage staffer who is out with other friends. The others can hear the voice on the phone, and they know that is represented by Bryan Slaton. He calls repeatedly for hours and says, hey, come over, have some drinks. Her friends warn her, a guy calling you like this, late at night, this is sexual. If she wanted to do it, why not just show up by herself? She didn't. She took her friends. When they get there, Bryan Slaton is surprised that she's brought others. Yet he continues, as we will later learn, maybe because he, quote, fears no one, and he, quote, has no worries that he's going to lose his job. He makes tall yeti cups full of rum and Coke. His teenage staffer takes a drink and says out loud, too strong.

05:41
He takes it, drinks a little off the top, pours more Coke, and gives it back to her. He continues to pour and refill her cup. His teenage staffer recalls, quote, a lot of alcohol, that she felt, quote, pretty rough, quote, really dizzy, and had, quote, split vision. They witnessed Slaton's behavior with his teenage staffer, and others remarked that it is close and appears intimate. By 02:00 A.m., they were repeatedly trying to convince her to leave. Imagine that three young adults who are trying their best to persuade Bryan Slaton from committing what can at best be described as sexual stupidity and at worst, sexual violence. His response she doesn't have to go if she don't want to. What happens next, by all accounts, is uncontroverted. They have sex. There weren't just two people who knew. She told someone and he told someone. In violation of all of our rules.

06:48
Bryan Slaton had sexual intercourse with a teenage staffer. When he realized he was about to get caught, he came up with a plan and tried to cover it up. Remember that phrase, I'm not afraid of anyone else, but you own me now? Starts asking her if her friends can be trusted. He pressures the girls with a probably phony email to a point where they feel threatened. One is seen crying at her desk, and they are terrified and stay up all night trying to figure out what to do. You see, these kids actually really liked Bryan Slaton. They really looked up to him. They thought he was brave. But at some point, they say, Enough. This has gone too far, and you have to speak with your members. Representative One, Representative Two, Representative Three and Representative Four, thank you for coming to this committee and entrusting us to begin our work in response to the rumors that are going about.

07:56
It is one of us, one of the members of this chamber that calls him and he confesses. He says, yes, he did the thing everybody is talking about. But, hey, just keep it quiet. Stay with me. I have a plan. So what's Bryan Slaton's plan? He stays in touch with his teenage staffer. He tells her not to come to work, that he, too will be gone. He instructs her to stay home and stay quiet. And she complies. She believes that she loves him. To this day, she is unwilling to speak about what might hurt him most. Let us be clear. We do not fault this teenage staffer. Ultimately, she does not deny what has been said before, nor does she deny what the others say they saw, they heard, and what she told them. What concerns us is she refuses to speak to the investigation about what happened in that apartment after her friends left.

09:00
Again, we do not fault her, but we question consent. We have grave concerns about her level of intoxication and her statement to others that she would not have done it but for the fact that she was overserved. We have concerns. No one will speak freely. At one point, she says that he is flirting with her and he is kissing her in the office. Our little extension offices, as many of six people in and out of there. Don't you wonder what the others in the office saw? This committee was created by you for us to ask those very questions in this very situation, with a legitimate complaint filed under penalty of perjury. And in this case, we had three. We all, like you notice Bryan Slaton's body language. At first he wasn't here. Then he was here in sullen. All of a sudden, he seemed to return an air of confidence and a skip in his step.

10:04
Was it because he got to her? Did she finally confirm, I won't talk about the thing that could hurt you most. We are equally disturbed by his entire office refusing to cooperate in violation of our rules with this investigation. Did he get excited when someone said, oh, don't worry, we won't let them talk. We don't know. What we do know is that every other staffer, every other witness, every other representative was able to coordinate with the investigator, find time to sit down, find an opportunity to get to the discrete location, which was confidentially, being done with a video running gave a full statement with lawyers present for those that wanted them. Everybody except for the people associated with Bryan Slate. As an employer in the state of Texas, we, like all others, upon a credible report of sexual harassment, must take prompt and effective remedial action to put it into the problem.

11:09
It is impossible for us to ignore the large imbalance of power between the two and his providing alcohol to her to get her into compliance, and then continuing to manipulate and attempt to delay. In order to cover this up, it is important for us to make sure that the young adults who found themselves in his apartment at Bryan Slaton making you never were and are not the problem. He is. Our report shows that Bryan Slaton violated various provisions of our house rules and various Texas laws. Now we have seen Bryan Slaton's resignation letter. We can see where the machine will go next. He's not going to play the reformed man who's atoning for his sins. He's all of a sudden remembered that he has that young family back at home. He doesn't even acknowledge the teenage staffer exists. Now that the report has been released and it has become public, she is of no benefit to him.

12:13
She goes from special to discarded. In my legal work, I have spent years working on behalf of victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. We fear that dark alley, the idea of the perpetrator there with a gun or a knife. It is this type of man steals innocence. It is this man not worthy of the position of trust, much less power. This is the man that stains the institution so many of us honor. This is the man that has left us with no choice to take the vote that we have to take today.