Congressman Ted Poe
2nd District of Texas
Washington, D.C.
Dear Congressman Poe,
Over the past few days I have become aware of some very disturbing events taking place in the state of Texas. A radical left wing organization, change.org, has undertaken a campaign to promote egregious disinformation about child abuse happening here and is targeting the upcoming Super Bowl, characterizing it in no uncertain terms as a gathering of pedophiles that will be raping children over the Super Bowl weekend. As shocking and incredulous as that sounds, it is exactly what is happening.
The front organization for this effort, called Traffick 911, which ostensibly operates as an educational program geared to prevent forced childhood prostitution, has been disseminating information that is characterizing men generally, and male football fans in Texas specifically, as disproportionately populated with child sexual predators. They are doing this with outrageously inflated and fraudulent statistics which can be seen prominently displayed on their website at traffick911.com.
Now, with the direct and active assistance of change.org, they are attempting to coerce the Super Bowl Host Committee into supporting and endorsing their activities. I personally received an email from change.org containing a petition to be presented to, among others, the committee. That message opened with the words, “Every year, children as young as 11 are trafficked to Super Bowl cities. There, football fans – usually men, often inebriated – will pay traffickers to have sex with them.”
Digging further into the information provided by Traffick 911, I found that they claim that “300,000 U.S. children are forced into sexual slavery.”
What I have learned, Congressman Poe, from the report from The Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force, paints a picture markedly different than that claimed by change.org and Traffick 911. The task force report indicates that since January 1, 2007, there have been 554 human trafficking investigations, which is roughly 11 investigations per month to date (48 months). Those investigations led to the arrest of 132 people (2.75 per month). In total, 29 suspects were convicted of a human trafficking-related crime.
This represents little more than one conviction every two months by the efforts of four federally funded task forces, as 5% of cases investigated resulted in a conviction. Of sex related crimes deemed to be an extension of human trafficking, “24 were charged with prostitution-related charges, 15 were charged with rape,” says the report.
If those charged with sex related crimes were all convicted, it would add up to less than one conviction a month over the 48 months.
And this is justification for characterizing Texas football fans as a collection of pedophiles?
No, Congressman Poe, it is not. And it makes this patently disingenuous approach to the problem an obscenity against the truth—proffered by left wing ideologues that are attempting to extort support and funding, indirectly from the football fans in your state.
So I am sure you can imagine how dismayed, how utterly shocked I was to see that you, sir, a supposedly conservative representative of the citizens of Texas in Washington D.C. are scheduled to speak in support of Traffick 911 and change.org’s disgusting agenda to play politics with abused children at a “Tailgate Rally” scheduled for February 5th of this year in Mansfield, Texas.
Anyone would agree, Mr. Congressman, that we all need to work together in the best interest of children everywhere. And of course those efforts should be bi-partisan. But this campaign of lies and slurs against innocent, hard working citizens who happen to attend a football game is so far beyond the pale that it defies decency. I urge you to please consider what your public support for this group and organizations like change.org implies about your allegiance to the honest voters who have entrusted you with your office.
At the same time I am sending you this letter I am also posting it to my website at avoiceformen.com, where we get tens of thousands of visitors per month. We have readers from all over the world, with many from Texas. And while we do not endorse or oppose particular candidates, most all of us share a concern for what has happened in our society from a tide of toxic left wing politics. This particular set of circumstances is about as toxic as it gets.
So again, I urge you to investigate what and who you are choosing to affiliate with in regards to Traffic 911 and change.org. There are much better ways for you to advocate for our children, and serve your country, than this.
Sincerely,
Paul Elam
Houston, Texas
Congressman Poe’s contact page:
