Contempt of court warrant issued for former GOP 'kissing Congressman' Vance McAllister

A Louisiana district court judge last week issued an arrest warrant for Vance McAllister, a former Republican Congressman who lost his 2014 reelection bid after it was revealed he carried on an affair with a member of his staff.

As The Ouachita Citizen reported Wednesday, Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Robert Johnson signed the warrant at the Ouachita Paris Courthouse after McAllister failed to show up to a debt collection hearing last month. He’s charged with contempt of court.

Several financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, Origin Bank and American Express, sued McAllister earlier this year, alleging he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. As the Citizen reports, judgments have been issued against McAllister for $290,000 owed to Origin Ban and $250,000 owed to IberiaBank.

In a third case, McAllister failed to show up to a July 13 hearing after the court compelled him to produce his financial records. He then failed to attend another hearing scheduled last week to provide him the opportunity to explain why he skipped out on the first.

Mcallister won a special election in 2013 and served in the U.S House of Representatives from Nov. 16, 2014 to Jan. 3, 2015. He failed to win reelection after the Citizen revealed his extramarital affair and branded him with the nickname “the kissing congressman.”

In a statement to USA Today, McAllister said the warrant was the result of a “misunderstanding.”

"I missed a court date upon advice of counsel," McAllister said. ”It was a misunderstanding of that advice. It will be quickly resolved.”

He called the warrant “just a legal procedure that will be immediately remedied with no problems.”

“Also, I am private citizen now trying to make living in depressed oil economy,” he added. "It's regrettable that political opponents still try to mislead the citizens for their own vindictive agenda."