Texas GOP Candidate's Trust Fund Paid His Children To Marry Someone White

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A GOP candidate in Texas admitted setting up a trust that paid his children to marry someone white. Reuters

A Texas Republican running for Dallas County Commissioner encouraged his children to marry someone of the same race by rewarding them with cash incentives.

Vickers (Vic) Cunningham admitted he bribed his children with money to make sure they married someone he approved of, which included being a member of the opposite sex who was white.

"I strongly support traditional family values," Cunningham told The Dallas Morning News.

"If you marry a person of the opposite sex that's Caucasian, that's Christian, they will get a distribution," he said of the "trust" he set up for his children.

"There are milestones set out in the trust. The milestone is, you get a distribution if you get an advanced degree. Milestone, if you run for public office. When you turn 35, 40, 45, you get a distribution. The same thing… when you get married," he added. "It's my religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman."

Following the interview, The Dallas Morning News announced it was pulling its support for Cunningham, which it had previously backed for the Precinct 2 Seat on the Dallas County Commissioners Court.

"Recent developments have caused us to reconsider, and we are withdrawing our recommendation of Cunningham," the publication said in an article that also claimed a family member and a former staffer reported that Cunningham frequently used the N-word.

Cunningham's brother Bill Cunningham, who is in an interracial same-sex marriage, spoke out against the views he claimed the candidate held, the HuffPost reported.

Bill Cunningham claimed his brother referred to his husband, who is black, as "your boy" and had refused to have him in his house.

"His views and his actions are disqualifying for anyone to hold public office in 2018," Bill Cunningham told The Dallas Morning News. "It frightens me to death to think of people in power who could hurt people."

The candidate suggested his views on interracial marriage had evolved from when he penned the financial incentives (in 2010), particularly given his son had married a Vietnamese woman, The Washington Post reported, however he said it was too late to change the terms of the trust.

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