Meet the Sex Hypnotherapist Helping the GOP Retake the Senate
Mother Jones
As Democrats and Republicans jostle for control of the Senate in 2014, the Senate race in Oregon—where the incumbent is Democrat Jeffery Merkley—is not considered much of a pickup opportunity for the GOP. But several Republican superdonors are trying to change that, including a multimillionaire vintner, one of the wealthiest conservative families in the country, and a sex hypnotist who has warned rape victims not to try to get “mileage” out of their stories.
These donors are opening their checkbooks for Monica Wehby, a political novice and Portland pediatric surgeon. A moderate, Wehby is touting her opposition to Obamacare. But Wehby is skipping the primary’s only televised debate on May 16 and avoiding excess face time with the press. So she can use plenty of money on her side—and the donors’ five- and six-figure contributions to super-PACs supporting Wehby have helped make her the leading candidate in the May 20 primary.
Wehby’s most controversial benefactor is Loren Parks of Nevada, a medical-device retailer and a hypnotherapy hobbyist. Parks has donated $75,000 to a super-PAC with the awkward name If He Votes Like That in Salem Imagine What He Will Do in Congress, which has pelted Wehby’s main opponent, state Rep. Jason Conger, with negative television ads. On Tuesday, a state PAC to which Parks gave $50,000, the Taxpayers Association of Oregon PAC, released a poll showing Wehby had a 21-point lead over Conger—a figure the Oregonian called “questionable.”
A prolific contributor to state and federal candidates in Oregon, Parks is frequently described as the largest political donor in the state’s history. He made his fortune selling medical equipment but gained notoriety in the past few years for starring in a YouTube series on treating sexual afflictions through hypnosis. In one of his dozens of video, Parks says some women grow fat so they won’t be tempted to cheat on their husbands. In another, he claims he can help heal the trauma of rape and incest victims, but not “if you’re getting mileage out of it, if you’re getting status, satisfaction from telling your story again and again.” In that video, Parks sounds a buzzer and shouts “Disconnect! Disconnect!” over and over.
On his website, Parks notes, “I am not a doctor.” Yet he says he used his methods to relieve a woman of multiple sclerosis symptoms, adding, “this woman probably got her MS because she had left her husband, gone off with another man.” On a now-defunct personal website, he once bragged that he could hypnotize women into becoming “sex machines.”
Parks has become infamous in Oregon for these remarks. This caused one Republican running for state office this year to return $30,000 that Parks had given directly to his campaign. Parks has also settled out of court two civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. One involved a mentally impaired woman whom Parks slept with after she approached him about his therapy. The other settlement resolved a case filed by a former employee who accused Parks of sending her extremely lewd emails and “trying to brainwash her into being his sexual and travel companion.”
Parks and Wehby’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
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Meet the Sex Hypnotherapist Helping the GOP Retake the Senate
