Attention, bloggers. You now have official internet permission to break out all those old Barney Frank jokes and re-word them so they work for first-term New York Congressman Eric Massa.
Massa announced Wednesday that he won’t stand for re-election because the job is endangering his health. Doctors supposedly warned him that he cannot continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”
Not so fast. (See how clever that was. That last paragraph ended with “100 miles per hour” and this paragraph started with “not so fast.” Damned amusing, if we do say so ourselves.)
It’s been alleged that Massa, who is married and has two children, sexually harassed a man on his staff.
Uh-oh. Politico has more of the salacious details:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) subsequently confirmed Wednesday that the Democratic leadership had been informed of the allegations before the news broke.
“I’ve heard of that allegation before,” he said. “I had some indication, yes, but I don’t want to go beyond that. And my presumption (is) it’s being pursued in the course of business.”
Massa told POLITICO early Wednesday afternoon that no one has brought allegations of misconduct to him.
Asked specifically about the sexual harassment allegations, he said: “When someone makes a decision to leave Congress, everybody says everything. I have health issues. I’ll talk about it [later].”
Massa has suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. On a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, he said he was hospitalized in December and that his doctors made it clear to him that he needed to slow down. He denied that he was retiring because of a sexual harassment claim.
“Do I or have I ever used salty language when I’m angry, especially in the privacy of my inner office or even at home? Yes, I have, and I have apologized to those where it’s appropriate,” Massa said. “But those kinds of articles, unsubstantiated without fact or backing, are a symptom of what’s wrong with this city.”
Please, God, never let us hear the story that the Congressman loved acting out slave scenarios while screaming, “Call me Massa, damn it! Call me Massa!”
Source: Politico.com
