Congresswoman Kay Granger, Republican from Texas, had been absent from public view for six months. She was not too long ago found residing in a dementia care house.
Granger, a venerable determine within the Republican Social gathering and a consultant of Texas’s twelfth Congressional District since 1997, had not been seen casting a vote since July. She is 81 years of age.
Her disappearance from the political scene was initially shrouded in silence. However a reporter for the Dallas Express determined to start out asking questions. What he discovered was nothing in need of surprising.
After calls to Granger’s workplace went unanswered and visits to her area workplace yielded locked doorways and coated home windows, the reporter spoke to a constituent who supplied an unimaginable tip.
“The congresswoman has been residing at a neighborhood reminiscence care and assisted residing house for a while after having been discovered wandering, misplaced, and confused in her former Cultural District/West seventh neighborhood,” they write.
It could be inconceivable to give you a stronger metaphor for the Republican institution. Or the state of our legislators generally.
The place Did Lacking Congresswoman Kay Granger Go?
Moderately than simply taking the constituent’s phrase for it, the Dallas Categorical reporter determined to go to the assisted care facility to inquire as to how Granger can be voting on the not too long ago handed spending invoice.
The Assistant Government Director for the senior residing facility informed the reporter he couldn’t meet with Ms. Granger however confirmed, “That is her house.”
Granger had deliberate to retire in January, however her early departure from workplace is unsettling. The truth that she may simply disappear primarily with out the general public’s data, leaving her district with out illustration, is borderline legal.
If not for her – as a result of her psychological and emotional points – then actually for her workers, who saved it beneath wraps. It raises questions concerning the well-being of elected officers and the mechanisms in place to make sure transparency and accountability.
It raises questions on what sort of “service” her workplace was offering for the 700,000-odd Texans she was duly sworn to signify. It raises questions on her colleagues, who absolutely knew one thing was amiss – if not for her absence, then for the entire absence of congressional workplaces that we taxpayers shovel over our cash to fund.
The Categorical report hints strongly that the transfer to maintain her well being struggles secret was an try to permit staffers to maintain getting paid till she retired.
“Within the meantime, Congresswoman Granger and her workers at the moment stay on the taxpayer’s payroll till January third, 2025, ostensibly taking early retirement and a protracted taxpayer-funded trip whereas District 12 taxpayers don’t have any illustration in Congress,” they write.
Propping up a senior citizen and overlaying up their poor well being to gather cash off their backs is elder abuse, and worse, it’s a legal breach of the general public belief.
81-year-old Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), who hasn’t been seen for six months, discovered residing in a dementia care facility.
Being a politician shouldn’t be a lifelong profession. It must be one thing one reluctantly does for the betterment of society.
It’s time Congress will get time period limits. pic.twitter.com/46jqalSCHT
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) December 22, 2024
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‘Very Speedy’ Decline
Kay Granger’s son, Brandon, spoke to the New York Post and indicated his mom had quickly declined as a result of dementia. Nonetheless, he claims indicators of that solely confirmed up after she moved into the assisted care house.
The youthful Granger stated he helped transfer the congresswoman into the ability, and since then, her decline has been “very speedy and really troublesome.”
A separate supply states that any assertions that Ms. Granger is within the reminiscence care unit are “categorically false.” They contend that the ability is solely a retirement house.
“Lots of people there are youthful than she is. Loads of them nonetheless work,” Brandon stated. “There’s nothing fallacious with desirous to be round folks she will spend time with, have a cocktail with.”
“She simply determined to retire. She’s 81.”
She may have moved into the house in January when she formally retired. She may have voted nonetheless, if her psychological schools had been sound. And you’ll’t say she merely developed indicators of dementia after shifting in whereas nonetheless insisting she’s not in a reminiscence care wing of the ability.
Granger issued a press release by a spokesperson on the matter.
“I’m deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern over the previous a number of days,” she stated, in line with the assertion.
“As a lot of my household, buddies, and colleagues have recognized, I’ve been navigating some unexpected well being challenges over the previous yr. Nevertheless, since early September, my well being challenges have progressed making frequent journey to Washington each troublesome and unpredictable.”
That she doesn’t have the respect or integrity to resign – or that she’s being taken benefit of by grifters for a paycheck – is yet one more metaphor for the outdated GOP.
