Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) urged former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) to use the $84,000 he's not returning to taxpayers to fund the special election Abbott forced through to fill Farenthold's Corpus Christi-based seat. On Wednesday, he got his answer: No.
"A special election was not warranted and should not have been called," Farenthold wrote in a letter to "Gregg" Abbott. "Since I didn't call it and I don't think it's necessary, I shouldn't be asked to pay for it." Most of the letter was spent defending his decision to resign in April and addressing the allegations that led him to settle sexual harassment charges by his former communications director, denying sexual misconduct and claiming he merely ran "a more informal office than some people may have expected from a career politician." Then he got a little personal:
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