Scandal-scarred Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R) didn't get a lot of help from his party after revelations emerged about the physician lawmaker's past affair with a patient, who he also urged to get an abortion.
But federal election records show that more than $30,000 did come rushing in at the last moment. That help included a donation from one very prominent member of the party that rushed to DesJarlais' aid just as Democrats were trying to unseal court records detailing DesJarlais' multiple affairs in his 2000 breakup with his then-wife.
That donor was National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who donated $2,000 to his embattled colleague. An NRCC spokesman did not immediately answer an email request for comment.
The Tea Party Express-affiliated Our Country Deserves Better PAC thought DesJarlais should be reelected, and gave him $1,000.
The political action committee of shipping giant Federal Express also delivered for the Tennessean, donating $5,000. Another group that soothed the pain of DesJarlais' scandals was the American Society of Anethesiologists, which gave him $4,000.
DesJarlais also appears to have gotten some last-minute love from a PAC run by Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa). The FEC forms listed a $5,000 donation from "For Americas" with an address at 675 N. Washington St., Suite 410, in Alexandria, Va. Latham's For America's Republican Majority PAC also lists that address and suite. A spokesman for Latham denied the Iowan donated to DesJarlais, but did not answer a request for clarification.
On Election Day, Desjarlais handily defeated his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Eric Stewart.
The same day that the last-minute donations were reported to the FEC, Tennessee Democrats had been trying to unseal court documents from DesJarlais' divorce seeking information about his multiple affairs with patients.
The documents were released Thursday, revealing all those details and also the startling news that the anti-abortion, pro-family lawmaker had mutually agreed with his then-wife on her having two abortions. The court transcripts also showed DesJarlais had multiple patients and coworkers as sex partners.
Before You Go
