Peter Schorsch
“If my husband hadn’t been serving in the state House as he was at the time, or if he wasn’t from such a prominent family, the story wouldn’t have made the news and I wouldn’t feel the need to talk about it now.” — Becky Troutman, wife of former state Representative Baxter Troutman, as quoted by Sunshine State News.
If you ever find yourself hard pressed to decide which side to take in a husband-and-wife domestic abuse case, always — ALWAYS — take the side of the woman. Even when they are not telling the complete truth — as Becky Troutman clearly wasn’t in that interview with SSN — at the root of what they are saying is likely a truth much darker than what was told to a reporter … or the police.
“That night I made an impulsive decision to call the police — haven’t you ever done that?” Becky Troutman told Nancy Smith as part of an interview designed to mitigate the damage a widely-disseminated text message linking to Baxter’s first arrest on domestic abuse was doing to his campaign for Florida Agriculture Commission.
“I wish I hadn’t, I would take it back and do things differently if I could.”
There’s no doubt about that, Mrs. Troutman.
After learning what we’ve learned about Baxter Troutman, we should all have nothing but sympathy for his wife, who clearly made a deal with the devil in the hope of one day escaping the situation she found herself.
Last week, Mr. Troutman was arrested for aggravated assault and domestic battery. This comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with domestic violence: once a wife beater, always a wife beater.
What is shocking are the details poor Becky Troutman shared with law enforcement about the tumultuous and sometimes violent home life she has endured for the better part of a decade.
Before Thursday morning’s episode — in which Baxter Troutman barged into his wife’s bedroom at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, tore off her comforter (what is Baxter’s problem with bedding) and then later grabbed her by the chin and jaw — the former elected official was revealed to be a serial abuser.
Becky Troutman said Baxter gave her a bloody nose in September of 2018 by striking her after she refused to unlock her cell phone so he could inspect the contents.
Becky Troutman said Baxter broke the pinky finger on her right hand while he twisted her arm behind her back during an argument. A neighbor took her to Winter Haven Hospital for treatment, and she produced time-stamped images of the injury for investigators.
No wonder the Troutmans slept in separate bedrooms, as Mrs. Troutman revealed.
Since the Troutman’s domestic situation returned to the news, there has been a whisper campaign to criticize Becky for defending her husband on the campaign trail as forcefully as she did during the GOP primary for Agriculture Commissioner.
The Troutmans released family photos during Baxter’s run for Ag. Commissioner. She spoke out regularly on behalf of her husband’s campaign.
And when political opponents for Baxter sent out that text message a week before the primary publicizing his 2012 arrest, the couple pushed back at a narrative he might be abusive.
It’s likely Becky Troutman thought her husband would win that primary (and in Florida, winning the GOP nomination for statewide office has usually been enough to win the general election.)
It’s likely Becky Troutman had a plan.
It’s likely Becky Troutman thought she could escape.
With her husband in Tallahassee full-time, perhaps she would have remained in Polk County, where she would no longer have to lock the door to her bedroom each night.
That’s why I just can’t blame Becky Troutman. She is the victim.
Mind you, Becky Troutman owes, what, an apology to, um, someone (?) for saying that “what bothers her most is ‘how insulting this has to be’ in the public sphere, where real domestic violence is such a crushing problem. ‘Imagine yourself a real victim of spouse abuse and reading this petty story based on who we are rather than what actually happened.’ ”
Fortunately for all Floridians, not enough Republican voters believed Becky Troutman when she said that her husband was a “good” and “admirable” man and that he’d have make a “fantastic” Commissioner of Agriculture.
Unfortunately, the deceit propagated by Baxter and Becky Troutman probably cost former Sen. Denise Grimsley the GOP nomination because two right-leaning news websites, Sunshine State News and The Capitolist, gave enough cover to him that not enough of the Ag. community abandoned him and went with their second choice, Grimsley.
This was the assessment of several deeply involved members of Florida’s Agriculture community I’ve spoken with in the days since Troutman’s arrest. Ag folks were never going to vote for Matt Caldwell, but they were split between Grimsley and Troutman, two of their own.
Had the truth about Baxter Troutman come out, most of those who voted for him would have swung to Grimsley.
So if and when the day comes when Nikki Fried is sworn in, not as Commissioner of Agriculture as she will be this Tuesday, but as the first Democrat governor of Florida in a generation, we will be able to point to the exact moment when her meteoric rise began.
It was August 23, 2018, the day that mysterious text message arrived on who knows how many phones blaring about an “ELECTION ALERT” and how Troutman, gloriously pictured in an orange jumpsuit, had been accused of hitting his wife.
Knowing what we know about the deceitful lengths Baxter Troutman would go to win his race, would it surprise anyone if it was revealed that he and/or his campaign sent that text message, just so that it would prompt someone like Nancy Smith to write that embarrassing article explaining away his 2012 arrest?
Don’t think Baxter would so such a thing? Well, I can’t put it past that “good” and “admirable” man.
2 comments
Mz Info
January 8, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Haha. I remember reading that article by Nancy Smith during the primaries, downplaying DV into some “pillow fight”. Quintessentially, it encouraged women NOT to call the police – especially women who has powerful counterparts. It was a really odd article – truly. Especially for someone who has been a victim of DV.
Clearly she was trying to do the Troutmans a favor. I guess she didn’t realize that bending truths aren’t really favors that have long-lasting credibility.
Ms. Troutman should have spoken to an abuse counselor, not Nancy – who clearly doesn’t know the first thing about DV, or advocating for victims
Kimberly
January 13, 2019 at 11:43 pm
If anyone has suspicions that abused spouse syndrome is an overblown bit of drama, they have never walked in the shoes of being a woman that has walked on that path. It is a treacherous path that can only be made most dangerous by doing it in the public and political sphere. I can’t even expect that to ever go well. I pray she finds true protectors to surround her. She will need them and their support to break free.
Comments are closed.