An attorney with a passion for radio, Blake Farenthold never held public office before he began a campaign for Congress, inspired, he said, by a sermon about seizing the opportunities granted by God.
“That really kind of stuck with me,” Farenthold said. “So on the last day to file for office, coming from the radio station, I could’ve turned right to go home, or left to go to Austin. Literally, I just made the decision to turn left. It was that quick.”
The Texas Republican proceeded to topple a 28-year incumbent, Democratic Rep. Solomon Ortiz, winning by 799 votes out of more than 106,000 cast. Since that first election in 2010, Farenthold has consistently improved his margins, taking 56 percent of the vote in 2012 and 63 percent in 2014.
Farenthold has developed a reputation for leading on tech issues since joining Congress, especially on the side of privacy advocates, sponsoring legislative proposals this year that include a measure to protect strong encryption, and another to limit the ability of the FBI to engage in widespread surveillance.
A solid conservative, Farenthold is also looking forward to what could be his first experience serving in Congress under a Republican president. “I’m looking forward to a Trump presidency where we’re on offense instead of defense and actually getting stuff done rather than trying to block bad stuff.
“I think securing the border and growing the economy are going to be huge,” he added. “We’re also going to have to win the war on terror. That means being tough on ISIS. I see that as a long-term battle, but we need to make sure we have the assets we need, both for the intelligence community and the military, to deal with it.”
“I’m looking forward to a Trump presidency where we’re on offense instead of defense and actually getting stuff done rather than trying to block bad stuff,” said Farenthold. (AP Photo)
Washington Examiner: What inspired you to run for Congress?
Farenthold: There were a handful of things that kind of all came together at once. I did talk radio before and spent a long time complaining about people who are brick-throwers and complain about everything and don’t do anything.
It just kind of occurred to me that I was a 1,000-watt brick-thrower with the radio station that I was on. I went to a business seminar at one of the big churches in Corpus Christi, and there was a preacher there whose message was, “God loves you and wants you to be rich, buy real estate.” But one of the things he said was, “God puts opportunities in front of you, and it’s up to you to use them.”
That really kind of stuck with me. I’d sold my computer consulting company, we were done with the obligations for the buyers. The kids were off at college so I was kind of an empty-nester. So on the last day to file for office, coming from the radio station, I could’ve turned right to go home, or left to go to Austin.
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Literally, I just made the decision to turn left. It was that quick. So I got to Austin and texted my wife, who was a surgical nurse, saying I was in Austin about to file. She freaked out. She thought I was in Austin to file for divorce. I said no, I’m filing to run against Solomon Ortiz. I think she was so relieved she didn’t object to me running for Congress.
Examiner: Was it at all challenging going straight to Congress from a radio career?
Farenthold: I think God was preparing me to run for Congress and I didn’t know it. I’ve worked in radio since I was 15 years old, and did talk radio for seven or eight years. So I wasn’t afraid to get in front of a microphone. I was able to take questions, think on my feet, deal with the issues.
That was good preparation. Obviously being a lawyer, I knew about the legal system and how to write laws and the effect that they have. Running a small business was huge, knowing the challenges of having to sign the front of the paycheck and not just the back, having to meet payroll.
Quite frankly, technology in general led me to a lot of what I’m doing in Congress. The government can’t compute its way out of a paper bag. I think that’s helped me to make a big difference, particularly with some of the things I’m doing on the Oversight Committee.
“[Edward] Snowden got a lot of information that needed to get out, but there were channels to do it that would’ve been less damaging to the intelligence community and the country as a whole,” said Farenthold. (AP Photo)
Examiner: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition [of the Internet away from U.S. control] is coming up on Sept. 30. That’s something you’ve been working on, and suggesting it at least be delayed. Is there anything you could see the next Congress doing to reverse the transition in the event it is finalized?
Farenthold: It could very well be something that goes into the continuing resolution. They’re actually talking about stopping it there. But this is a classic example of trying to fix something that ain’t broke. We invented the Internet, we’ve been good stewards of the Internet. We’re not censoring it. There’s nothing wrong with the way it works now. Why are we changing it?
Examiner: If it isn’t blocked in the CR, is there anything the next Congress is going to do?
Farenthold: I think once it’s gone, it’s gone. They’re not going to give it back. If push came to shove, I think we have such a huge percentage of the Internet here in the United States, it could potentially give us some leverage.
I’m not as scared as some of the folks you see talking about it and saying we’re going to go to hell in a handbasket, though I don’t think it should happen. I just don’t think it’s going to be as bad as people say it is.
Examiner: You’ve been working on “Speak Free” legislation for several years. Why is it necessary?
Farenthold: The beauty of the Internet is, you can go online and read customers’ honest reviews, whether it’s something on Amazon or Yelp or TripAdvisor. If the big companies, or even some small companies, don’t like what you write in a review, they can sue you for tens of thousands of dollars, even if they’re going to lose.
But I think if Speak Free is going to be enacted into law, it’s going to need to be enacted under President Obama. He supports it. Donald Trump has six SLAPP [strategic lawsuit against public participation] suits himself that he’s filed. I’m a Trump supporter, but that’s one issue I don’t think we’re going to see eye-to-eye on.
“The beauty of the Internet is, you can go online and read customers’ honest reviews, whether it’s something on Amazon or Yelp or TripAdvisor,” said Farenthold. (AP Photo)
Examiner: Couldn’t free speech coincide with Trump’s libel lawsuits?
Farenthold: That’s the classic example of a SLAPP suit. You think you’ve been wronged by somebody and you file a nuisance lawsuit about it. It’s not going to change the libel law. All you’ve got to do is, early on, convince a judge that you have a reasonable chance of succeeding before you go into the defensive discovery phase.
Examiner: You’ve also worked a lot on encryption. That issue has died down over the last several months. Do you think it will come up again next year?
Farenthold: I think cyber is going to be a huge issue, cybersecurity against hackers or the ability to have strong encryption without a backdoor on your phone. I don’t think most people realize how important strong encryption is. Your bank account wouldn’t be secure without strong encryption.
People talk about encryption and say, “Oh, why would you want to encrypt the data on your phone if you don’t have something to hide?” Well, I store the passwords to online services I use on my phone. I don’t necessarily want somebody to just get into my phone and see the pictures I have of my kids.
Examiner: On the issue of cybersecurity, you asked FBI Director James Comey in July whether Hillary Clinton’s private server had been hacked by Guccifer. Comey responded she had not, but recent reports have undermined that claim. How confident are you in what Comey said?
Farenthold: I wish the Platte River Network people had shown up and not taken the Fifth so we could’ve found out what level of security they have. There’s a saying in the IT community that there are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those that don’t know they’ve been hacked. I would be stunned if her server was not hacked. I don’t believe for a second that somebody didn’t get in there.
Examiner: Is that commensurate to saying you don’t have faith in the FBI’s findings?
Farenthold: That’s one of the things we’re doing in the Judiciary Committee, looking at the FBI’s notes and seeing what they found. I want to be sure they did a thorough enough investigation. I don’t believe there’s a computer that can’t be hacked, and she’d be a juicy target.
It’s an incredibly unnecessary risk that was taken for her convenience. It’s certainly inconvenienced the American people. It’s inconvenienced the State Department in having to produce these. It’s inconvenienced the Oversight Committee in exercising its investigative power.
Examiner: Edward Snowden has been in the news again lately, and he’s suggested there’s been a double standard in applying the Espionage Act to him but not to Clinton.
Farenthold: Nothing sticks to a Clinton. There’s clearly a double standard. I think Snowden might be an extreme example, but you take Gen. David Petraeus and what happened there.
Examiner: Along those lines, do you think Snowden should be pardoned so he can come back from Russia?
“Nothing sticks to a Clinton. There’s clearly a double standard,” said Farenthold. (AP Photo)
Farenthold: Listen, Snowden got a lot of information that needed to get out, but there were channels to do it that would’ve been less damaging to the intelligence community and the country as a whole. He could’ve come to the Oversight Committee as a whistleblower. There are lots of things he could have done rather than wholesale releasing the information and fleeing the country.
Examiner: Democrats are blaming Russia for recent cyberattacks on their party, even though the Obama administration and the intelligence community have not done the same. Do you view those accusations as well-founded?
Farenthold: You don’t know who may or may not have hacked. I’ve always said I’m waiting for a foreign power to offer up all the Hillary emails we couldn’t get, because they’ve got them. I suspect there may be more than one that has them. But I haven’t had an opportunity to question any of the technical people about what they’re doing, and frankly, I’m 10 years rusty on how you would secure a server.
Examiner: On the issue of Texas politics, Rep. Michael McCaul has suggested he might run a primary campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2016. How are your constituents looking at that right now?
Farenthold: Right now, most people I talk to back in Texas are mad at Ted Cruz, because he promised he would endorse the eventual nominee twice and didn’t do it. People in America are tired of being lied to by people in Washington, D.C. Ted Cruz proved himself to be a liar on that issue. Whether he’ll be able to recover in two years is yet to be seen.
[Editor’s note: Cruz endorsed Trump on Friday after this interview was conducted]
Lots of people, myself included, like a lot of Ted Cruz’s policies. But we’re fed up with politicians who will say whatever they want to say regardless of whether it’s true, and they’re tired of politicians who break their promises. I could promise to pay the bank back $15,000 on a car loan, and the banker could start talking about my wife, but I’d still have to pay the loan.
Examiner: What are going to be your top priorities in the 115th Congress?
Farenthold: I’m looking forward to a Trump presidency where we’re on offense instead of defense and actually getting stuff done rather than trying to block bad stuff.
I think border security with Trump is going to be key, and that’s important to the district I represent, because a lot of the drugs and people being trafficked come right through the district that I represent. We’ve got to get the economy growing again, and that’s going to help the debt problem.
“Lots of people, myself included, like a lot of Ted Cruz’s policies,” said Farenthold. (AP Photo)
You can only cut so much. The real solution to our debt crisis in this country is economic growth. You get 4, 5 percent economic growth, people taking money on welfare programs suddenly become taxpayers, and have money to go out and spend, and then the companies they’re spending with have money to hire more people, and the whole process snowballs.
So I think securing the border and growing the economy are going to be huge. We’re also going to have to win the war on terror. That means being tough on ISIS. I see that as a long-term battle, but we need to make sure we have the assets we need, both for the intelligence community and the military, to deal with it.
Examiner: What’s on your recommended reading list?
I wish I had more time to read for pleasure. I’m a huge Brad Thor fan. My daughter, Amanda, actually babysits for Brad Thor in Nashville. But I liked his books even before I met him. I don’t read that much nonfiction, but my wife is all over me to read Clinton Cash. I don’t think I’m going to have to read it, because I get a chapter-by-chapter briefing from my wife every night.
And I’m into science fiction. I’m going back and reading some of the classic Heinlein this year, and an old series, the Charles Stross Laundry series. I like books I can read on a couple of round trips to Washington.
