Congresswoman Kay Granger, Republican from Texas, had been absent from public view for six months. She was recently discovered living in a dementia care home.
Granger, a venerable figure in the Republican Party and a representative of Texas’s 12th 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. But a reporter for the Dallas Express decided to start asking questions. What he found was nothing short of shocking.
After calls to Granger’s office went unanswered and visits to her field office yielded locked doors and covered windows, the reporter spoke to a constituent who provided an incredible tip.
“The congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering, lost, and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood,” they write.
It would be impossible to come up with a stronger metaphor for the Republican establishment. Or the state of our politicians in general.
Where Did Missing Congresswoman Kay Granger Go?
Rather than just taking the constituent’s word for it, the Dallas Express reporter decided to go to the assisted care facility to inquire as to how Granger would be voting on the recently passed spending bill.
The Assistant Executive Director for the senior living facility told the reporter he could not meet with Ms. Granger but confirmed, “This is her home.”
Granger had planned to retire in January, but her early departure from office is unsettling. The fact that she could just disappear essentially without the public’s knowledge, leaving her district without representation, is borderline criminal.
If not for her – due to her mental and emotional issues – then certainly for her staff, who kept it under wraps. It raises questions regarding the well-being of elected officials and the mechanisms in place to ensure transparency and accountability.
It raises questions about what kind of “service” her office was providing for the 700,000-odd Texans she was duly sworn to represent. It raises questions about her colleagues, who surely knew something was amiss – if not for her absence, then for the complete absence of congressional offices that we taxpayers shovel over our money to fund.
The Express report hints strongly that the move to keep her health struggles secret was an attempt to allow staffers to keep getting paid until she retired.
“In the meantime, Congresswoman Granger and her staff currently remain on the taxpayer’s payroll until January 3rd, 2025, ostensibly taking early retirement and a long taxpayer-funded vacation while District 12 taxpayers have no representation in Congress,” they write.
Propping up a senior citizen and covering up their poor health to collect money off their backs is elder abuse, and worse, it is a criminal breach of the public trust.
81-year-old Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), who hasn’t been seen for 6 months, found living in a dementia care facility.
Being a politician shouldn’t be a lifelong career. It should be something one reluctantly does for the betterment of society.
It’s time Congress gets term limits. pic.twitter.com/46jqalSCHT
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) December 22, 2024
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‘Very Rapid’ Decline
Kay Granger’s son, Brandon, spoke to the New York Post and indicated his mother had rapidly declined due to dementia. Still, he claims signs of that only showed up after she moved into the assisted care home.
The younger Granger said he helped move the congresswoman into the facility, and since then, her decline has been “very rapid and very difficult.”
A separate source states that any assertions that Ms. Granger is in the memory care unit are “categorically false.” They contend that the facility is simply a retirement home.
“A lot of people there are younger than she is. A lot of them still work,” Brandon said. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be around people she can spend time with, have a cocktail with.”
“She just decided to retire. She’s 81.”
She could have moved into the home in January when she officially retired. She could have voted still, if her mental faculties were sound. And you can’t say she simply developed signs of dementia after moving in while still insisting she’s not in a memory care wing of the facility.
Granger issued a statement through a spokesperson on the matter.
“I am deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern over the past several days,” she said, according to the statement.
“As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year. However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable.”
That she doesn’t have the honor or integrity to resign – or that she’s being taken advantage of by grifters for a paycheck – is yet another metaphor for the old GOP.
