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Republican Rep. Pat Meehan of Pennsylvania has been removed from the House Ethics Committee after reports surfaced that he made unwanted sexual advances toward a female staffer. From the New York Times:
A married father of three, Mr. Meehan, 62, had long expressed interest in the personal life of the aide, who was decades younger and had regarded the congressman as a father figure, according to three people who worked with the office and four others with whom she discussed her tenure there.
But after the woman became involved in a serious relationship with someone outside the office last year, Mr. Meehan professed his romantic desires for her — first in person, and then in a handwritten letter — and he grew hostile when she did not reciprocate, the people familiar with her time in the office said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has new details after the congressman helpfully spoke to them about the sexual harassment settlement. This interview is not going to help his crumbling public image:
U.S. Rep Pat Meehan said Tuesday he had developed a deep “affection” for a younger aide and told her that he saw her as “a soul mate” as they talked over ice cream one night last year, but in an interview with the Inquirer he said he never pursued a romantic relationship with the woman, who later accused him of sexual harassment.
Meehan, a Delaware County Republican, also acknowledged that he initially reacted “selfishly” when he found out the aide, decades younger than him, had entered into a serious relationship with another man, and shared a heartfelt, hand-written letter he wrote to her in May wishing her well, but also thanking God “for putting you into my life and for all that we have seen and experienced and genuinely shared together.”
Meehan claimed it wasn’t necessarily the rejection from the decades-younger female staffer that made him lash out at her. Rather, it was Obamacare.
He said he felt bad about lashing out in his office when told of the woman’s relationship, attributing it to the tension-filled stretch around the House GOP votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, when he faced intense pressure from both sides of the debate.
Thanks, Obama! You got another married “family values” Republican to sexually harass a female staffer and then angrily lash out when she rejected his advances.