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You are here: Home / Politics / More on Massa

More on Massa

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Yesterday, my Congressman Eric Massa announced that he would not seek re-election, citing health reasons. The Politico and The Atlantic later reported that there had been allegations of sexual harassment against a male staffer. The AP later reported that Hoyer knew of the allegations and directed Massa to the House ethics committee. Meanwhile, though, WHAM 13 (a Rochester tv station known for doing good reporting on things like this) spoke with Massa’s chief of staff who said he’d never heard about any of this.

Some people have spoken with (not people from the Massa campaign) say they’re not sure at all what’s going on here, that Massa’s claim he just uses “salty language” may not be as implausible as it sounds, and that early reports on the nature of the charges may have jumped the gun. I’ve also spoken with people who tell me (convincingly) that Massa’s story about health issues is not plausible (at least not the way Massa described it). So there probably is SOMETHING at the bottom of this, but it may not be the sexual harassment angle that we’ve been hearing.

If you’re interested in following this story, I can’t recommend the blog Fighting29th highly enough. I think it’s probably the best single-district political blog in the country.

I may as well disclose this: I have given money to Massa, done lots of volunteer work for his campaign, and know a lot of people from his campaign very well.

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  4. 4.

    geg6

    There is some real weird shit going on with this, that’s for sure. And absolutely no one seems to have any idea what the hell is going on. No one.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    Seems like a weird situation. If he’s leaving for “health problems” seems like he’d say what those were.

  6. 6.

    DougJ

    @Violet:

    He did, but his story isn’t plausible. (If he really had a recurrence as he says, it would be Defcon 5, not “I just need to slow down”.)

  7. 7.

    geg6

    @Violet:

    I believe it is semi-well known that he has battled some rather fierce cancer. So it’s not completely implausible that he may be out of remission.

  8. 8.

    srv

    Perhaps Doug could apply his troll skills as a Congressman. Or we could just incorporate Tunch and have him carpetbag there as a person.

  9. 9.

    geg6

    @DougJ:

    Well, that’s not necessarily so. I have several friends who have had multiple battles with recurring cancers (not to mention my mother having 3 bouts with breast cancer before finally succumbing) and it’s not always defcon 1 when you come out of remission. It depends on the cancer, the treatment, and many other things.

  10. 10.

    Pengie

    Okay, pedantic nerd alert:

    Defcon 5 is when we’re at peace.

    Defcon 1 is when Matthew Broderick needs to come teach the computer to play tic-tac-toe.

  12. 12.

    Pangloss

    When you did work for this congressman, did you ever get to work in Massa’s house?

  13. 13.

    some guy

    The only people willing to go on the record about this are people denying the charges. Until someone is willing to put their name to the accusations, or until an actual ethics complaint or lawsuit surfaces, it seems a bit unfair to Mr. Massa to spread what amounts to anonymous gossip.

  14. 14.

    DougJ

    @some guy:

    Yes, I agree. I think Politico et al. jumped the gun and that Massa’s “salty language” story could be true.

  16. 16.

    jibeaux

    Well, his willingness to say right off the bat that he used salty language in his office, etc. instead of the straight categorical denial — my initial thought was “you can #&#$ my #*$& if you’re going to bring that @#*$ in here, you #$*#*-##$*#ing #$*)sucker” is one man’s salty language, and another man’s foundation for a sexual harassment accusation.

  18. 18.

    marigr

    For the first time ever I donated to a politician. I’m sorry I chose Massa. He didn’t vote my way on the Health reform bill…and now, seems to be disingenuous regarding his real reason for resigning. Is there anyone in the Southern Tier that we can believe cares about the peolpe?

  19. 19.

    Persia

    @Pangloss: I laughed out loud at that one, you asshole.

    The ‘salty language’ seemed oddly specific- but as others have said, this ‘some say’ rumors bullshit is bullshit.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    @DougJ:
    That’s kind of what I meant. Just saying “a recurrence” when the cancer he battled is known to be really fierce, as geg said, doesn’t make sense. If your tough-to-battle cancer comes back, you don’t just “slow down.”

    Seems like he’d be more specific if the “health reasons” were the real deal. It seems there’s more going on than he’s letting on.

    Who resigns over “salty language?” Very odd.

  23. 23.

    Anya

    Maybe he said some homophobic shit to this guy (something that will make him lose the left) and since he is GOP target, he did not want to go through all the hassle – considering his health problems. Yes, I’ve nothing.

  24. 24.

    syl

    @DougJ

    “I may as well disclose this…”

    You’ll never get a OpEd page gig with that attitude.

  25. 25.

    Violet

    @DougJ:
    It doesn’t pass the smell test. The real story usually has a ring of truth. This stinks to high heaven. There’s definitely more going on, perhaps a combination of all sorts of stuff. But the current “health problems” claim is some sort of cover for something.

  28. 28.

    J. Michael Neal

    @DougJ:

    He did, but his story isn’t plausible. (If he really had a recurrence as he says, it would be Defcon 5, not “I just need to slow down”.)

    I’m not convinced that that’s not the case. He talked about needing to slow his life down, but I thought his comment about entering the final phase of his life was oddly incongruous with that sentiment. Taken literally, it could be perfectly innocuous, but it seemed weird. I still have no idea what is going on, and haven’t written off the idea that he’s dying of cancer.

  30. 30.

    Maude

    Isn’t it strange how other Dems are talking about Massa?
    I thought I read that Pelosi had not heard a thing about ethics violations.
    Raygun’s 11th commandment doesn’t hold true for Dems.

  31. 31.

    mcc

    It just seems really weird to hear everyone talking about “rumors” that they don’t give a source of and “allegations” that they don’t explain who’s making the allegations. There seems to be no sourcing to any of this as of yet that doesn’t terminate with a single politico story.

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