In an era where shamelessness masquerades as justified swagger, and party unity demands that politicians ignore evidence of significant misconduct in their own ranks, Republicans are finally starting to lose their tolerance for U.S. Rep. Cory Mills.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about time \u2014 long past time, in fact. Mills is accused of conduct so egregious, crossing so many boundaries, that he has effectively destroyed his ability to fulfill his duties as the elected representative of House District 7 (which includes all of Seminole County and part of south Volusia). The scandal clinging to him includes accusations of aggression toward women; of campaign-finance violations; of conflicts of interest between his congressional duties and personal financial interests. Topping it off: Credible challenges to the accuracy of his self-portrayal as a warrior hero \u2014 the ticket he rode into Congress in the first place.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, Mills still seems to believe GOP leadership and his colleagues in Florida\u2019s congressional delegation are willing to overlook any and all transgressions.<\/p>\n
With good reason. Until recently, House Republicans have waved off questions about his actions or flat-out ignored them. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about some things that are really serious,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson said during an Oct. 15 press conference, where he was asked about a tension-filled hearing that resulted in a North Florida judge ordering Mills to stay away from a former romantic partner. The order says the young woman had \u201creasonable cause to believe she is in imminent danger\u201d from the congressman.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to see how anyone remotely familiar with Mills\u2019 stained record would regard these issues as not serious.<\/p>\n
Growing anger<\/p>\n
But things have begun to change \u2014 sparked at first by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina. Mace (who apparently has beef with Mills from an unrelated vote to discipline a Democratic House member, but also seems to be genuinely offended by the multiple scandals trailing Mills) filed a fiery resolution Wednesday demanding that Mills be censured for his conduct and removed from two committees. That was thwarted by leadership, who apparently orchestrated a 310-103 vote to send the matter to a special investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee, where complaints sometimes languish for months, even years.<\/p>\n
That \u2014 plus evidence of cynical dealing by Democrats and Republicans aiming to spare some representatives while throwing others into the fire of chastisement \u2014 seems to have jarred a few bricks loose in the wall of defense that has surrounded Mills for the term and a half he\u2019s served so far. Wednesday, two Republicans from Florida\u2019s delegation went to social media and then to local TV news to call out the hands-off treatment he\u2019s getting from his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse leadership exchanged the vote to protect a Republican that\u2019s having a lot of issues and should NOT seek re-election,\u201d wrote Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Seminole. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Gainesville, appeared on Fox 35-Orlando Thursday and had this to say: \u201cWrong is wrong and principles are not partisan. You either stand for truth and justice or you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cammack was particularly incensed by the series of events that resulted in a restraining order issued against Mills. In a tense two-day hearing in North Florida last month, Lindsey Langston, current holder of the Miss United States pageant title, detailed alleged behavior by Mills that included issuing threats against men she might date in the future, and refusing to stop contacting her despite repeated requests. Mills also hinted that he\u2019d release video that she feared included nude images of her, Langston testified. (Mills has denied the allegations.) Langston broke off their relationship after she learned that police had been called to Mills\u2019 apartment in Washington, D.C., by another woman, Sarah Raviani. That police report is also troubling: In it, officers detailed what they believed to be signs of physical abuse. It also described police overhearing a conversation in which Raviani was told, by a man believed to be Mills, to lie about the origin of her bruises.<\/p>\n
The details of that incident have since been recanted by Raviani, who posted a stern rebuttal of Mace\u2019s claims on social media this week \u2014 which Mills promptly reposted.<\/p>\n
A pile of trouble<\/p>\n
Of course, this is just one of the clouds hanging over Mills\u2019 head. Last year, the House Office of Congressional Ethics found probable cause to believe that Mills \u2014 who has owned and may still have a financial interest in multiple weapons-manufacturing firms \u2014 may have profited from federal contracts after he was elected to Congress, a violation of House rules and potentially, federal law. It also questioned his campaign finances, including whether his campaign committee accepted personal loans or contributions that exceeded federal campaign-finance limitations. Finally, there\u2019s a question of whether Mills \u201comitted or misrepresented required information\u201d in mandatory financial-disclosure statements.<\/p>\n
In her resolution, Mace also cited allegations that Mills had embellished his military record to the point where it constituted \u201cstolen valor.\u201d Prior to the 2024 campaign, the Sentinel spoke with high-ranking military leaders who said his official record did not support many of the boasts he made during his two campaigns \u2014 including a Bronze Star that was awarded in 2003, based on an account of Mills braving enemy fire in Iraq to rescue trapped soldiers. Multiple people who said they were present dispute Mills\u2019 account. There are also questions as to why he claimed, in a job application, to have served in an Army ranger regiment and why he claimed to have been a sniper. His official records say he was a medic and do not reflect sniper training.<\/p>\n
Where does it stop? Apparently, that question still needs to be answered. Friday, a new set of allegations emerged on nonprofit news site NOTUS, concerning Mills\u2019 inappropriate behavior on a 2021 trip to Afghanistan that was intended to rescue Americans stranded after President Biden ordered troops withdrawn. That one will need digging into.<\/p>\n
Rules for all<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note that Mills is not the only House member facing significant allegations. Thursday, U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Miramar Democrat, was indicted on 15 federal charges of that include theft of government\u00a0 COVID funds, money laundering, making and receiving straw donor contributions and conspiracy to falsify a tax return, Clearly, these allegations should also be taken seriously by House members as well, and we plan to address them next week.<\/p>\n
Mills\u2019 case lacks criminal charges, but still, it\u2019s no wonder that an increasing number of Republicans are getting fed up. Many of them are clearly, legitimately disgusted by the string of revelations that have emerged so far. State GOP leaders must also be keenly cognizant of the fact that the GOP primary in Mills\u2019 congressional district is less than nine months away, and that thus far, no well-known or well-funded Republicans have filed to challenge him for that seat. Meanwhile, several appealing Democrats are vying for the chance to pick off Mills next November.<\/p>\n
Voters in Mills\u2019 district (which is solidly but not overwhelmingly Republican) should have a candidate they can get behind. Mills no longer fits that bill. If House leadership isn\u2019t willing to see that \u2014 and respond appropriately and with a sense of urgency to the very real complaints that are piling up around him \u2014 maybe they deserve to lose the seat. But District 7\u2019s voters certainly don\u2019t deserve that kind of abandonment.<\/p>\n
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Use insight@orlandosentinel.com to contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an era where shamelessness masquerades as justified swagger, and party unity demands that politicians ignore evidence of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2853,482,139,141,140,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-59678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-editorials","9":"tag-opinion","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}