Eric Massa Framed?

Politico is reporting that the Democratic Representative from New York, Eric Massa, who recently announced his intention to resign amidst a sexual harrassment charge from a male staffer, is now claiming that the investigation was set up by the Obama administration because Massa didn’t vote for Obamacare.

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year’s Eve — and that he’s the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he’s a “no” vote on health care reform.

“Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill,” Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. “And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they’ve gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Massa insisted that he did not know the basis of a House ethics committee investigation into his conduct until after he announced his retirement last Wednesday, and he took House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to task for going public with information related to the probe before it is completed.

Of note is that Massa did not deny the accusations against him, namely that he made sexually suggestive and inappropriate comments to a young male staffer. But he also says he announced his resignation before finding out what he was being investigated for, which sounds odd to me. What else has he done that he was afraid of being investigated for? It does sound a bit fishy that he was investigated so soon after voting against Obamacare, but it also sound odd that he would suddenly decide he was being framed instead of fighting it initially.

Personally, I’d like to see him fight it, and see what other dirt comes up. Is that wrong of me? Don’t get me wrong — I’m not really interested in seeing Massa dragged through the mud. I’m just wondering what else he was involved with that had him so worried about an ethics probe. He seems very unconcerned about the sexual harrassment issue, and I can’t help but think he was involved in something with more substance.

The Republican Heretic

A Republican and a Heretic, in multiple senses of both words. A small L libertarian conservative in the Midwest, concerned with limiting the size and power of government and halting the growth of the paternalistic progressive aristocracy. Interested in history, religion, and law, and policies dealing with the aforementioned. Will feature comments on stories or articles I find interesting, whether related to politics or anything else that catches my eye.

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