This undated photo provided by Gawker shows Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., posing shirtless in front of a mirror. The gossip website Gawker reported...
(AP Photo/Gawker)
This undated photo provided by Gawker shows Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., posing shirtless in front of a mirror. The gossip website Gawker reported Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 that Lee, a married two-term Republican lawmaker, had sent the shirtless photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist.
NEW YORK — Former Rep. Eric Massa and his tickle fights are so 2010. Eliot Spitzer? He's two governors ago. With the shirtless photo sent to a woman he was trying to woo online, Rep. Chris Lee is the latest in a string of New York politicians whose misdeeds have riveted national attention.
Lee, a 46-year old Republican and married father, resigned his Buffalo-area seat Thursday after the gossip website Gawker published e-mails he sent to a woman he met on Craigslist, including a photo where he is shirtless and flexing a bicep. Lee released a statement apologizing to his family and constituents for letting them down.
Lee is hardly the first politician to engage in bad behavior. But many lately have come from the Empire State _ from the densely packed, hyper-caffeinated New York City metropolitan area to the rural communities and industrial cities upstate.
"I don't think it's anything in the water, but we do seem to have a disproportionally large amount of scandal," state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said. "Maybe it's because we're a high-profile state, we have a dynamic population, and we run at a faster pace than many places."
A year ago, it was Massa's turn in the spotlight.
A freshman Democrat from western New York, the 50-year old Massa abruptly resigned his seat, citing health concerns. News surfaced within days that he was under investigation by a House ethics panel for sexual misconduct, a charge he denied even as he acknowledged participating in tickle fights with some male aides.
"They are saying I groped a male staffer," Massa said in a television interview. "Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him. I tickled him until he couldn't breathe."
Also last year, Carl Paladino, a Buffalo real estate developer, burst onto the national scene when he won the Republican primary to challenge Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Paladino, whose candidacy was backed widely by tea party activists, acknowledged fathering a child out of wedlock and, with no evidence, publicly accused Cuomo of infidelity during his 15-year marriage to Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of former New York Sen. Robert Kennedy. He later backed away from that charge.
A videotaped dustup where Paladino threatened to "take out" a political reporter became a national cable news staple for days and Paladino had to apologize for racist and pornographic e-mails that he forwarded _ twice.
Cuomo trounced Paladino by 30 percentage points in the November election. But Paladino has remained visible and some supporters are already pressing him to enter the race to succeed Lee. Paladino said Wednesday he is not planning to run.