Just hours after Gawker reported that married GOP Congressman Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) had been trolling the “women seeking men” section of Craigslist looking to hookup, Congressman Chris Lee resigned. Rick Klein of ABC News tweeted, “maybe fastest scandal ever.”
Rep. Lee sent out this announcement:
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.
“The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.â€
So much for “family values.” Gawker had written, “Yesterday, we reached out to Rep. Lee, whose support for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and vote to reject federal abortion funding suggests a certain comfort with publicly scrutinizing others’ sex lives.”
They include a string of emails and various photos, Facebook screenshots, etc.
New New York Governor Cuomo and the Secretary of State will need to set a special election, as members of the House of Representatives must be elected, not appointed. Given how the Republican was forced to leave office, is this a chance for a Democrat to take over?
I have to add, while we have yet another Republican hypocrisy issue, I’m impressed he resigned so quickly.