Not long after Eric Massa joined Congress in January 2009, several male staff members began to feel uncomfortable with the sexually loaded language their boss routinely used, according to accounts relayed to the House ethics committee.
As the months passed, rumors began to circulate in the office that the married New York Democrat had sexually propositioned young male staffers and interns — allegations, according to two sources with knowledge of the inquiry, that included Massa groping at least two aides.
In the second week of February, Massa’s deputy chief of staff contacted the office of Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer for help in dealing with the accusations. Once Hoyer (D-Md.) himself became aware of the claims, he delivered an ultimatum to Massa’s office: Report the staffers’ complaints to the ethics committee within 48 hours, or Hoyer would do it for them.
Last week, the panel’s investigation became public, and Massa resigned, effective Monday.
Massa went on television Tuesday night for the first time since the allegations surfaced, but his comments in two cable television interviews contradicted earlier statements, serving only to raise more questions.
The freshman Democrat told Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck that “not only did I grope [a staffer], I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe,” then said hours later on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that “it is not true” that he groped anyone on his staff.
He told Beck that he resigned from the House because he made the mistake of “getting too familiar with my staff” members, but he told King that he left primarily for health reasons. Massa, 50, has survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but he said he is afraid that he is facing his “third major cancer-recurrence scare.”
On Sunday, Massa said he was set up by powerful Democrats such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) as part of an effort to remove opponents of health-care reform legislation. He backed away from that claim Tuesday, telling Beck, “I wasn’t forced out. I forced myself out.”
Whatever the “true” story is, it will not reflect well on the White House as it twists arms to force passage of Obamacare. The press will be watching for the perks and threats as Obama and Rahm Emanuel attempt to salvage their voter unpopular health care reform legislation.
Comments Off 
Entries (RSS)