CONGRESSMAN’S QUESTIONABLE ETHICS
WERE EXPOSED TWO WEEKS AGO
BY INVESTIGATIVE VOICE
By Alan Z. Forman
Less than an hour ago (at 3:58 p.m.) the Associated Press reported that New York Rep. Eric J.J. Massa (D-29th-NY), under investigation by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee for alleged sexual harassment of a junior member of his Washington D.C. staff, on Friday resigned his seat in Congress effective the beginning of next week.
Massa, currently midway into his initial two-year term in the House, is married and has two children.
According to the Associated Press, “Knowledgeable Democratic officials told AP that Massa, who has announced he will not seek reelection due to a recurrence of cancer, is resigning his seat, effective Monday.”
The AP said it had spoken with “three Democratic officials with knowledge of his [Massa's] plans, [who] spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had yet been made.”
Two days ago the New York Democrat said a recurrence in December of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, of which he was diagnosed 14 years ago, was the reason he had decided to drop out of a tough reelection campaign in which he was being opposed by former Corning, N.Y. Republican Mayor Tom Reed.
Repeated calls to the congressman’s cellphone late Friday afternoon plus an email to his campaign website have so far gone unanswered. His cellphone message reports that “the mailbox is full and cannot accept any messages at this time.”Two weeks ago Investigative Voice revealed that Massa had falsely accused Reed of branding him a “Bolshevik revolutionary” because of Massa’s opposition to the war in Afghanistan.
Massa used what he inaccurately termed Reed’s bogus charge to hit constituents with a heavy-handed fundraising appeal based on his claim that he was being falsely accused of communist leanings.
Reed had quoted on his campaign website an article on the Communist Party’s Internet page that praised Massa for signing on as a co-sponsor of a congressional resolution to end the Afghanistan war.
Massa and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) both denied the article’s existence. However Investigative Voice located it and upon confronting the congressman by telephone and email was met with his and his campaign staff’s refusal to respond.
I.V. also reported — based on Federal Election Commission filings — that Massa had been misleading constituents and supporters by claiming that he routinely refused all corporate contributions and only accepted money from individuals in the 29th Congressional District, when in fact, after being elected in Nov. 2008 he immediately began amassing a $1 million-plus campaign war chest from corporate Political Action Committees (PACs) and contributors as far away as California.
Having initially dismissed the charges that he made unwanted sexual advances toward the unnamed male aide, the congressman was required, the week of Feb. 8, by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to report the allegations to the bipartisan ethics panel under pressure that if he or his staff failed to do so, Hoyer himself would report the charges to the committee.
Massa is one of the few Democrats to hold New York’s 29th Congressional District seat in the GOP's 150-year history. Voter registration in the largely agricultural district, which is located in the southwestern corner of the state and extends north from the Pennsylvania line towards Rochester, just below Lake Ontario, has historically been heavily Republican.
In 2008 Massa unseated incumbent Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr., a Republican who held the seat for two terms (2005-2009) and had defeated Massa in his first run for Congress in Nov. 2006.
Kuhl was preceded by another Republican, Amory “Amo” Houghton Jr., who represented the district for nine terms, from 1987-2005.
The last Democrat to represent the district before Massa was Stanley N. Lundine, who served in Congress from 1976-1986, when he was elected former Gov. Mario Cuomo's lieutenant governor.
One-time U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former pro football quarterback and unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Jack F. Kemp held the seat before redistricting during the 1970s and early 1980s.
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