Dem Source: Massa Won't Run

Rep. Eric Massa is poised to announce this afternoon that he will not seek re-election in the 29th Congressional District this fall as planned, a Democratic source confirms.

The freshman congressman is going to make his announcement at 3 p.m., according to the source. It's unclear if that event is taking place in the district or in Wahsington, D.C. A call to Massa's spokesman has so far not been returned.

Massa's office says he will be speaking with the press on a "very important" conference call at 3:30 p.m. He's in Washington.

Massa is calling around the district to inform party leaders and supporters of his decision.

The source said he assumed that Massa's move is "health related," but said the congressman also gave him a rather nebulous warning that he would be "hearing things that aren't true."

Sources close to the congressman say there has been talk of an ethics investigation, but a staffer in Massa's district office contacted yesterday insisted he had no knowledge of that.

By Elizabeth Benjamin
March 3, 2010 1:29 PM
New York Daily News

Accused of sexually harrassing male staffer.

Politico

After his trashing of Randy Kuhl? Priceless.

LOL well he lasted long

He was a creep. First there was his faked trip in the fuel cell car. Then there was time he was caught on video telling a lobbyist he would be happy to vote against the interests of his own district. Good riddance.

WHAT I HAVE KNOWN ABOUT ERIC MASSA

During his Navy career, Eric Massa allegedly touched at least two men inappropriately and may have exhibited a pattern of putting himself in situations where he would see men naked – particularly younger and lower-ranked men.

These allegations come from general shipboard understandings and conversations, and were relayed to me by shipmates of Eric Massa.

In one instance... Massa and a lieutenant were on liberty in the Middle East. Massa had made the motel arrangements and the room turned out to have only one bed. The lieutenant reportedly told other officers on the ship that while they were in the room, Massa came up behind him and started massaging his neck and shoulders....he later told shipmates, he was awakened by Massa’s hands in his shorts. The lieutenant was startled and turned away. Massa rolled over and pretended to be asleep....

A few months after this incident, another lieutenant ... had a somewhat similar situation. In the stateroom, Massa had the bottom rack and the lieutenant had the top rack. ... he had awakened to Massa atop him in his bunk.

The lieutenant rebuffed Massa.

Neither lieutenant officially complained about their experiences. In both instances, Massa was their boss ...

Also ....junior officers were troubled by the fact that Massa used their shower – even though it was four decks below his stateroom and he had showering facilities with the other senior officers.

Written March 4, 2010
by Bob Lonsberry © 2010

I always thought Massa was a carpet bagger at best. He targeted an area of the country he thought was vulnerable to allow him get elected in, moved there and then spent nearly five years of trashing Kuhl to do it. If you had ever talked to the man you would never have voted for him. Unbelievable

Glad to see we have yet another outstanding representative for New York.

Outstanding no. Outhanging yeh.

Massa to resign under ethics cloud

WASHINGTON — New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, the subject of a harassment complaint by a male staffer, is stepping down from his seat, The Associated Press has learned.

Knowledgable Democratic officials told AP that Massa, who has announced he will not seek reelection due to a recurrance of cancer, is resigning his seat, effective Monday.

Massa's resignation comes as the House ethics panel was reviewing a harassment complaint by a male staffer who reportedly felt uncomfortable in a situation with Massa that had sexual overtones.

Massa, who had initially dismissed the rumors, will resign effective Monday evening, according to three Democratic officials with knowledge of his plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had yet been made.

By LAURIE KELLMAN (AP) – 15 minutes ago

he later told shipmates, he was awakened by Massa’s hands in his shorts. The lieutenant was startled and turned away. Massa rolled over and pretended to be asleep....


He was only doing like the old telephone commercials used to tell us to do " Reach out, reach out and touch someone."

Special election awaits 29th

Rep. Eric Massa’s decision to resign Monday rather than retire when his term ends in January will mean a special election.

Massa, D-29 of Corning, made the announcement Friday in the wake of a what he called a cancer scare and a complaint to the Congressional Ethics Committee, reportedly involving the sexual harassment of a male aide. He had announced his retirement Wednesday.

In a statement posted on his Web site Friday, Massa acknowledged using inappropriate language.

Massa to resign Congressional post with ‘a deep apology’
By DAVID TAUBE / dtaube@fltimes.com
Sunday, March 7, 2010 12:11 AM CST

March 8, 2010, 7:14 A.M.
By Jennifer Yachnin
Roll Call Staff


Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) suggested on a New York radio station Sunday that he could rescind his resignation — scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Monday — after asserting that an ethics investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed one of his aides may have been orchestrated by Democratic leaders to get him out of office before the health care vote.


Responding to a caller to his weekly radio show on WKPQ Power 105 FM, a recording of which was made available via the Web site of local station 13 WHAM-TV, Massa said: “I’m not going to be a Congressman as of 5 o’clock [Monday] afternoon. The only way to stop that is for me to rescind my resignation. That’s the only way to stop it. And the only way that’s going to happen is if this becomes a national story.”


During the hour-and-a-half show, Massa said that Democratic leaders are using the House ethics committee to get him out of office before the vote on health care because he voted against the House health care bill last fall.


“Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, '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,” Massa said Several times during the broadcast Massa raised the prospect of rescinding his resignation if national news media picked up on his story of being railroaded out of office by Democratic leaders.


In response to a caller's suggestion that Massa disseminate his allegations by contacting Fox News, Massa stated: “I can’t call Fox News. You guys gotta call Fox News. I can’t do it. ... Here’s why. I’m in the center of this storm, so obviously I’m not objective.”


But Massa also repeatedly pointed out that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly referred to as the ethics panel, would continue its investigation if he remains in office.

“That’s very kind of you, but understand what that means for me," Massa said in a response to a caller who suggested he not resign. “It means that a group of lawyers are going to try to rip me and my family limb from limb. And you’ve already seen it in the newspapers. … It’s a piranha feeding frenzy.”


Massa said on the show that the ethics investigation focused on sexually charged comments he made to an aide at a New Year’s Eve celebration, but charged he was unaware of an ethics committee investigation into the incident until after he had announced his retirement last week.

The House ethics committee confirmed Thursday that it is investigating unspecified allegations against Massa.


Massa surprised political observers when he announced on Wednesday that he would not run for re-election in November. He cited a recurrence of cancer as the reason for his decision, but after the ethics investigation was confirmed, Massa announced he would step down immediately.

Democratic leaders very clever!!!

They able to get Mr. Massa to sexually harass peoples against his will just to get rid of him!!!

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.

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.

BY James Gordon Meek, Richard Sisk, Kenneth R. Bazinet and Michael Mcauliff In Washington and Rich Schapiro In Corning, N.Y.
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, March 11th 2010, 10:54 AM

Massa is only doing to his staffers what all NY politicians have been doing to their constituents. Grab your wallet and bend over.

The guy is a quack. Period.

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

What's wrong with a good ole *tickle party* between men LOL

I did not believe it till I saw it with my own eyes.....Massa admitting to tickleing and groping.....geesh what an idiot....

remember deny deny deny...