Free Republic

In a victory for the tea party movement, Republican Curt Clawson won a special election in southwest Florida on Tuesday to replace former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to cocaine possession. The businessman and former Purdue basketball star cruised past Democrat April Freeman and Libertarian Ray Netherwood in a solidly Republican district on the state’s Gulf Coast. With all precincts reporting, uncertified results show Clawson captured 67 percent of the vote for District 19, which includes most of Lee County and about a third of Collier County....

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republicans told Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) they didn’t want him to resign and would support him, according to Radel’s father. “He had a meeting with John Boehner and some of the Republicans,” Skip Radel told Ohio’s The Cincinnati Enquirer. “They told him they didn’t want him to resign, and they wanted to back him.” According to the report, Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, declined to comment on the father’s remarks. Steel stood by the statement his office issued Wednesday: “Members of Congress should be held to the highest standards, and the alleged crime will be...

Rep. Trey Radel, a Florida Republican elected in 2012, will be in court Wednesday on charges that he possessed cocaine. Radel, 37, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday.

Rep. Trey Radel, a freshman Republican from Florida, was arrested on Oct. 29 for possession of cocaine in the District of Columbia, according to D.C. Superior Court documents. Radel, 37, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. Radel faces a maximum of 180 days in jail, as well as a possible fine up to $1,000. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia declined to comment on Radel’s arrest or criminal cases. The Florida Republican is a former journalist, TV anchor and radio talk-show...