It’s the stuff of tawdry PG-13 romance novel fluff. Last night, Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) announced he would resign following reports that he, a married congressman, sent enticing emails and, apparently, a not-so enticing shirtless photo of himself to a woman on Craiglist.
Credit: Gawker
Lee issued this statement late Wednesday afternoon.
“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 New York Daily News reports today that House Speaker John Boehner previously warned Lee for his partying antics with female lobbyists.
Boehner also told Fox News that he did not pressure Lee to resign. So why did he?
Generally, Republican office holders are held to a higher ethical standards than their Democrat counterparts by their core constitutencies and, hypocritically, by mainstream media. Social conservatives make up the third leg of President Reagan’s famous “three-legged stool” for building Republican coaltions: free enterprise, strong defense, and pro-family social policies.
Even within the Tea Party Movement, a 2010 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute revealed nearly half (47%) of Americans who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement say they are also part of the Christian conservative or religious right movement. Consequently, Lee resigned, not due to the media pressure, but because this core constitutency is unforgiving on issues of morality and ethics.
Some would argue that Lee’s real “sin” was his stupidity in sending a shirtless photo of himself to a stranger on Craiglist. Others would argue that his moral failing is a private matter between Lee and his wife. Just how perfect a conservative politician must be to survive in Washington is a subject for debate and it should be.
However, what this “Shirtless Congressman” scandal really reveals is a double standard in the media for conservative and liberal office holders.
In December 2010, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) was censured – the equivalent of a political wrist slap - by the House. In November, Rangel had been convicted on 11 ethical violations, among them illegal use of four rent-controlled apartments in New York City, evasion of taxes on his rental income in the Caribbean, use of his Congressional letterhead to illegally solicit funds for his private foundation, conflicts of interests stemming from the soliciting of lobbyists for companies for which he was writing tax regulations and the failure to disclose hundreds of thousands in personal financial assets.
Rangel has yet to offer his resignation.
In March 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in the wake of the exposure of his involvement as a client in a high-priced prostitution ring. He is now a political commentator and the current co-host of Parker Spitzer on CNN.
On December 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from Clinton’s affair with then 22 year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Previously, Clinton had denied the affair. “I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never,” said Clinton on On January 26, 1998.
After Lewinsky turned over a semen-stained blue dress to prosecutors, Clinton finally admitted that that he had had an "improper physical relationship" with Lewinsky in taped grand jury testimony. In a nationally televised address to the nation, he also admitted that his relationship with Lewinsky was "not appropriate.
When perjury and obstruction of justice charges were brought, Clinton denied the charges based on his interpretation of the court-agreed definition of “sexual relations.” He claimed that the agreed-upon definition of "sexual relations" included giving oral sex but excluded receiving oral sex.
Although the U.S. Senate voted not to convict Clinton based on party lines, he was held in civil contempt of court by Arkansas Judge Susan D. Webber Wright. His license to practice law was suspended for five years and later by the United States Supreme Court. He was also fined $90,000 for giving false testimony.
Yet, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll taken in September 2010, Bill Clinton, twelve years after his impeachment, is currently the most popular politician in America with fifty-five percent polled having a positive view of him.
As for Lee, you can already hear Leno and Letterman having a field day with this one tonight. If he played it right, though, he could have a book deal in no time called, “Tales of the Shirtless Congressman.” He could be asked to campaign for Rahm Emanuel in Chicago or partner up with Eliot Spitzer on CNN. Or maybe Lee could even run for President.
At least, that is what a Democrat politician would do.
Conservative satirist and commentator William J. Kelly is also a contributor to Breitbart.com and edits the Tea Party Reports for the Washington Times Communities. He is a native from Chicago's Southside.
Email questions to him at williamjkellyrebuild@gmail.com.
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Read more of Bill Kelly's Truth Squad in The Communities at the Washington Times.
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