Jonathan Stickland’s cyberpast catches up, but Scott Fisher hasn’t won yet

Normally, a young Tea Party upstart like Jonathan Stickland would never get elected to the Texas Legislature.

But nothing is normal in politics anymore, and there is no sign of normalcy returning before the March 1 primary.

So Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, has every chance in the world to be re-elected in Texas House District 92, even though opponent Scott Fisher’s campaign has unearthed past message-board posts covering a decade of Stickland’s obsessions with (1) fantasy games, (2) politics and (3) marijuana.

You know how parents always tell kids, “Watch what you put on social media”?

Well, if you ever needed proof, just run a couple of searches for Stickland’s America Online handle, “RaTmasTeR4LiFe.”

Howdy from Texas all :D

Was wondering if anyone lived in the Dallas Fort Worth area and loved to smoke da green. Looking for a smoke buddy.....

If you fit this criteria please contact me.

Thanks,

~stick

The email address for that 2001 post is the same personal Hotmail address Stickland has used consistently and published in his church bulletin. It’s also the same address he used in 2011 to recruit for the Grapevine-based NE Tarrant Tea Party, where he was originally drafted to run for office after he confronted U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess at a town hall meeting.

When the District 92 incumbent, then Todd Smith, decided on a different race at the last moment, that opened the door for Stickland, a 28-year-old former pest control tech and political neophyte who didn’t finish Birdville High School.

Running as the pistol-packing Republican voice of Ron Paul libertarians everywhere, Stickland won two blustery terms representing north Arlington, Bedford, Euless and Hurst.

I’m not sure whether any past Republican or Democratic opponents ever ran his email address through a web search.

But somebody gave the results to Fisher, a Bedford pastor and former county hospital board chairman, and now we know about the Ratmaster.

On a Missouri-based fantasy football forum, somebody using Stickland’s email address in 2001 called another commenter a “bratwurst-loving homo,” among many posts reflecting a 17-year-old of limited maturity and zero political forethought.

As recently as 2008, according to the Austin-based Quorum Report newsletter, he asked how to pass a employer’s drug test: “What can I do, have to take it by 5PM tonight.”

Unsurprisingly, former Gov. Rick Perry has endorsed Fisher.

But Stickland’s response may be the best possible for his mostly church-driven district.

In a statement to the Quorum Report, Stickland, now 32, acknowledged that in younger years, he “wasted much of life.”

He did “things I wish I hadn’t,” he wrote. “But by the Grace of God, my past sins are forgiven.”

On his usually busy Twitter account on Monday, he posted only one word: “LIBERTY!!!!”

Don’t count Stickland out at all. Not this year. Never count out a repentant sinner.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Jonathan Stickland’s cyberpast catches up, but Scott Fisher hasn’t won yet."