Massa Quits House in Sex Scandal

REP. ERIC MASSA caved to Democratic Party pressure yesterday, announcing in a message awash with self-reproach and shame that he’s quitting to avoid a sexual harassment investigation.
Massa, a western New York freshman, also insisted he’s stepping down because of cancer, but ethics officials are looking into a male staffer’s complaint he was made “uncomfortable” by Massa.
The 24-year Navy vet and Annapolis grad had planned to finish his term and maintained if he committed harassment, it was only inadvertent “salty” language.
“An ethics investigation would tear my family and my staff apart,” he said, alternately blaming himself and the “incredibly toxic atmosphere in Washington” for his predicament.
“This ethics issue is my fault and mine alone,” and “I own this reality,” he wrote on his House Web site.

Read more: (Elizabeth Benjamin and Michael McAuliff, “Upstate Dem Quits House in Sex Scandal,” New York Daily News, 03/06/10)