Since then, the grandstanding preacher has made national headlines with his anti-porn crusade, but new information suggests he has been less than honest about his tactics, not to mention his income taxes.
Norwood’s campaign resulted in the high-profile raid of a third store earlier this week.
But now, just two months before Norwood faces reelection, he has found himself in political hot water, thanks to a Fort Worth Weekly article that exposes him as a liar and a tax cheat.
At the center of the controversy is Norwood’s claim that he and members of his church have been photographing the vehicles of adult video store customers, making postcards from the photos and sending them to the owner’s of the vehicles.
The radical tactic won him praise from Right Wing radio and TV talk show hosts, including Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, who invited Norwood to talk about the postcard mailing on his show, “The O’Reilly Factor.” Norwood also has appeared on CNN to brag about the positive results the mailings have yielded.
The problem is, there never were any postcards.
The truth came out when the owner of one store, XXX Superstore Video, was considering a harassment lawsuit against Norwood and put out a public call for postcards to use as evidence in the case. The store even offered a $500 reward for anyone handing in a postcard, but received no response.
Even after the store raised the reward to $1,000, no one came forward.
Then, in an unrelated case, a lawyer for a man suing Norwood over a business debt asked him, under oath, if he or anyone from his church had mailed such postcards. The answer was no.
It was a tall tale told for publicity purposes.
And the lies didn’t end there. During the same deposition, Norwood also admitted he hadn’t paid income taxes since 1999. Bad news for a politician who lives for the spotlight.
As reporter Jeff Prince, author of the Fort Worth Weekly article, wrote, Norwood “never met a moralist cause, or a camera, he didn’t like…. But under pressure and public scrutiny, cracks are appearing in Norwood’s smooth façade, yet again.”
An unnamed colleague of Norwood’s added, “He wants sensationalism. He wants to be noticed. He’s totally ego driven. The guy just doesn’t get it.”
