Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on March 12, 2010

Messy living at house on E St. Southeast: The view from window inside the home in Washington that now-resigned Rep. Eric Massa shared with several male staff members while a member of Congress. | Photo credit: Meek/News

The troubling, unethical history of former Rep. Eric Massa is being uncovered, and it’s disgusting and disturbing. This man is appearing more, day by day, to have been a sexual predator, and not only was Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi and/or her aides made aware of it, she and/or they chose to do nothing about it.

So much for ethics. Gotta have those votes to pass health care, after all….

From FOX News, via Wall Street Journal, Pelosi’s Office Knew of Massa Concerns:

WASHINGTON — Aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew of concerns about the behavior of former Rep. Eric Massa months earlier than Pelosi previously acknowledged, a senior Democratic leadership aide said Wednesday.

In October, Massa’s chief of staff told Pelosi’s office the then-congressman was living in a townhouse with some of his congressional aides and that he had used “strong” language that made them feel uncomfortable, the leadership aide said. The Massa aide, Joe Racalto, also voiced concern “about the way Massa runs the office” and added he had asked the congressman to move out of the townhouse, the aide said.

Last week, Pelosi indicated her staff had learned of concerns about Massa only in February, when more detailed allegations of sexual harassment were brought to the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.).

In what has become an embarrassing distraction for the Democratic majority, Massa resigned from Congress Monday. He initially cited health concerns, before accusing Democratic leaders of pushing him out of Congress for his opposition to the health-care overhaul. He later backed off that assertion. Massa couldn’t be reached for comment on Wednesday.

From New York Daily News: Disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Massa’s long trail of bizarre behavior includes home shared with staffers:

Disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Massa insists he never sexually abused anyone, but he filled his Capitol Hill rowhouse with low-paid male staffers in an arrangement ripe for trouble.

“It’s like he had people trapped,” said a Hill source.

Sordid new details emerged yesterday of a pattern of behavior that went back to his 20 years as a naval officer, as ex-shipmates came forward to describe incidents of groping and perhaps worse.

After resigning, Massa called his “inappropriate” behavior a carryover from his Navy days.

At the house on E St. Southeast yesterday, which Massa had shared with five of his staffers, clothes were piled on the floor and half-a-dozen pairs of shoes mingled with dirty towels next to an open pink suitcase in the living room.

A male staffer in his 20s who mans the front desk of Massa’s decommissioned House office appeared late in the day and went inside. He declined to comment, citing strict orders from the staff’s temporary employer, the House clerk.

In hindsight, Democratic insiders wondered about activities that before had just seemed odd. They said Massa hired a surprisingly large percentage of young gay men, and paid them so little that staffers were forced to live in the house with him.

“It’s not the gay part that’s a problem, it’s the abuse, if it’s true,” said one Hill source.

“The guy’s a freak,” a close friend of one embattled Massa aide told the Daily News.

Even as ethics officials apparently decided yesterday to drop their investigation of Massa because he is no longer in Congress, numerous new reports and interviews suggested there is much more to learn about the Navy vet.

Massa departed Congress on Monday after first saying he had cancer, then claiming he wanted to avoid an investigation, then saying he was forced out because he opposed health care reform, and finally saying he wasn’t forced out.

He admitted in a pair of bizarre cable interviews that he “tickled” staffers, but he denied charges of repeated groping.

But new bombshells erupted yesterday, the biggest reported by The Atlantic online, which quoted past shipmates of Massa charging he used his status as a commander to subject underlings to abusive sexual advances.

Former Massa shipmate Peter Clarke recalled how a friend who roomed with Massa during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Stuart Borsch, was made extremely uncomfortable by Massa in a hotel on leave.

Journalist Michelle Malkin weighed in about Speaker of the House Pelosi this week on the Glenn Beck Show:

…This isn’t just about Eric Massa, and we know that. This is about a House ethics committee that is essentially a corruption enabling cesspool and has been under both Republican and Democrat administrations. And to the extent that your audience and activists and people who care about integrity and government and returning this government to the limits and the constitutional accountability that it should have, I think that pointing to the House ethics committee and this shadow office of congressional ethics that was set up in the wake of the Abramoff scandals is something that you can do. I mean, here you have a woman who got up, wields her gavel and then invokes her gender as some sort of sense of moral superiority that now that a woman is in charge, we really will drain the swamp? Somebody needs to hold her accountable for those promises. And that’s people who are going to be able to go to the polls in 2010 and 2012 and people who are going to be able to run office and show these creepocrats and corruptocrats how to run a clean government.

More from Gateway Pundit, Democrat Eric Massa Lied… Hoyer Knew About Sexual Harassment Last Month:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer revealed later today that he received a report last month of allegations of misconduct against a New York congressman.
The AP reported:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he received a report last month of allegations of misconduct against a New York congressman who has announced he will not seek a second term.

A statement from Hoyer’s office late Wednesday says he was told the week of Feb. 8 about the allegations by a staff member in Rep. Eric Massa’s office. Hoyer directed Massa to report the allegations to the House Ethics Committee within 48 hours. Hoyer says he received confirmation within 48 hours that the Ethics Committee had received the report and would review the allegations.

From The American Pundit, Pelosi Staff Knew About Massa Earlier Than Claimed:

In other words, Madame Speaker knew about the sexual harassment allegations against Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) earlier than claimed. Is anyone buying that Pelosi’s staff learned of a member of Congress — a member of her caucus — harassing male staffers and then decided to hide the news from the Speaker? If so, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

From Politico, Hoyer knew of Massa allegations:

First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can’t continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.”

But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that the New York Democrat, who is married with two children, made unwanted advances toward a junior male staffer.

A more senior staffer — Ronald Hikel, Massa’s former deputy chief of staff and legislative director — took the complaints to the ethics committee and was interviewed about them twice.

Hikel declined to comment about the situation, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) confirmed that the Democratic leadership had been informed of the allegations before the news broke.

Noteworthy reading: Allahpundit at Hot Air analyzes the subterfuge of “Liar of the House” Pelosi and her previous knowledge of Rep. Massa’s behavior, Here we go: Pelosi’s staff knew of Massa allegations sooner than claimed. It’s lengthy, so be sure to visit Hot Air and read it.

More on Massa:
HillBuzz: Boystown’s Take On Eric Massa’s “Gay Frat House”
Frugal Caf&ecute; Blog Zone: Glenn Beck Apologizes for Wasting America’s Time with His Massa Interview (video) and Naked & Arguing Politicians: Rahm & Massa in the Congressional Showers (video) and Another Dem Incumbent Abandons Ship Obama: Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) Won’t Seek Re-Election (video) and NY Dem Rep. Eric Massa: Townhalls Killing Democrat Party with Millions Withdrawing ObamaCare Support, So He Refuses to Hold Townhall Meeting
FOX News, Massa: ‘I Forced Myself Out’ of Congress
RealClearPolitics: Massa: Rahm Emanuel “Would Sell His Own Mother” For Votes
Nice Deb: Has Eric Massa Been Framed?
Politico: Eric Massa: Democrats ousted me over health care
Patterico’s Pontifications: Talk Like a Democrat Day
Gateway Pundit: Dem Rep. Massa May Rescind Resignation; Says Rahm Emanuel Is “Son of Devil’s Spawn” (Audio) and Dem Rep. Massa Will Resign After Allegations of Sexual Harassment …Update: Says He’s Guilty and Democrat Eric Massa Lied… Hoyer Knew About Sexual Harassment Last Month
On My Watch — The writings of SamHenry: Massa Turns the Legislative Process Into a Story of Crime and Punishment
The Nose On Your Face: Eric Massa: “I Did Not Inhale”
Potluck: Keep an eye on the Massa scandal
Bob Lonsberry: WHAT I HAVE KNOWN ABOUT ERIC MASSA
The Fix, The Washington Post: Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) won’t run for reelection

Categories: Government, Health, Law & Constitution, Social and Political Climate
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Eric Massa, Glenn Beck, Glenn Beck Show, government-run health care, health care reform, House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, nationalized health care, ObamaCare, political, politics, Pres. Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Rep. Eric Massa, Steny Hoyer, universal health care, Washington DC