08 | March | 2010

Last week, when the news of the House Ethics Committee investigation of Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) came out, I didn’t follow the story closely. Another ethics-challenged corruptocrat, I yawned, big deal.

I should have been suspicious, because – why would House Dems be investigating one of their own, without any outside pressure? Pelosi stood by corruptocrat Charlie Rangel until the bitter end… until it was no longer publicly tenable to do so.

And today I find out that Massa’s no vote on ObamaCare is the deciding vote – (according to Massa)? And he’s charging that the Dems are going after him because they will stop at nothing to pass ObamaCare?

And there’s still a chance that he’ll rescind his announced resignation at 5:00 pm, today, if this becomes a national story?

Okay, here’s the deal:

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year’s Eve — and that he’s the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he’s a “no” vote on health care reform.

“Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill,” Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. “And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, 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 claims he didn’t even know what the basis of the charges were until after he announced his retirement, last Wednesday. He’s now saying he understands what it’s all about – an inappropriate retort to an equally inappropriate comment made by a staffer, after many drinks, during a New Years Eve party. He believes it’s a case of “political correctness” gone awry, but one of his aides told POLITICO he’s been engaging in inappropriate behavior “for eight months.”

So who knows? He could be a total dirtbag, but isn’t it interesting that the Democrat leadership has taken such an interest in his politically incorrect antics? – after all, it’s not like he endangered national security or anything.

Massa, reportedly has never been a favorite of Rahm Emanuel, as this anecdote illustrates:

“When I voted against the cap and trade bill, the phone rang and it was the chief of staff to the president of the United States of America, Rahm Emanuel, and he started swearing at me in terms and words that I hadn’t heard since that crossing the line ceremony on the USS New Jersey in 1983,” Massa said. “And I gave it right back to him, in terms and words that I know are physically impossible.”

“If Rahm Emanuel wants to come after me, maybe he ought to hold himself to the same standards I’m holding myself to and he should resign,” Massa said.

So now Massa is striking back:

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.

Stay tuned!

Hat tip: Pundette, and Potluck

MORE:

In case you were wondering, Massa is no Blue Dog Dem, as Drew at AoSHQ points out:

Massa voted against the original House bill because it wasn’t liberal enough. He famously told some nutroots group that he’d vote for a single payer system even though his district didn’t want it. Massa is also the guy who said Sen. Charles Grassley committed treason because of the wording of his opposition to government run health care.

Massa was definitely a guy Pelosi needed to flip but not because he was a ‘conservative’ or even ‘moderate’ Democrat who thinks the whole thing is too much but rather because he’s a progressive who wants a plan that goes further to the left. It seems he’s more likely to be the type (and he’s not alone) who has to be assured this is just the beginning not the end. That’s a lot easier sell, even with the prospect of the Democrats losing the House, simply because history shows all government programs grow beyond their promised scope at some point. It strikes me there’s easier ways to get his vote than this.

Ed Morrissey’s take:

Why did Hoyer and Pelosi make such a public spectacle of the ethics investigation? That may have a slightly less paranoid explanation. Charlie Rangel had just embarrassed the House leadership, and with a series of scandals threatening to turn 2010 into a rerun of 2006 from the opposite direction, both Hoyer and Pelosi certainly had enough motive to grandstand to the press. That may not have been motivated over Massa’s vote on ObamaCare, but just as a way to look proactive rather than reactive to the latest ethics eruption in the press.

Massa is ill with cancer and says he needs to leave Congress to focus on his therapy. That’s certainly understandable. But Massa can’t claim that Hoyer and Pelosi railroaded him out of office if he resigns on his own for health reasons. If he wants to be the “deciding vote” on ObamaCare, all he has to do is stick around. If he doesn’t, that’s entirely his decision, but it sounds like a smoke screen rather than an exposé. (via JWF and CentristNet)

I’m not at all convinced that Hoyer and Pelosi were grandstanding to the press solely to look “proactive” after the Rangel ordeal, (it would be unwise to overlook the possible involvement of “the son of the devil’s spawn” in this one) but Morrissey is certainly correct that Massa can stick around long enough to to vote no, if he wants to.

ALTHOUGH...there is a personal price for Massa to pay:

He (Massa) acknowledged, however, that reneging on his promise to resign would revive a stalled ethics probe into his reported sexual misconduct with staff.

In response to a caller suggesting he remain in office, Massa said: “That’s very kind of you, but understand what that means for me. It means that a group of lawyers are going to try and rip me and my family limb from limb. And you’ve already seen it in the newspapers. It’s a piranha feeding frenzy.”

UPDATE:

Rush is doing his part to make the Massa controversy a “national story” by starting off his show, this morning, talking about it.

UPDATE II:

Ew…Ace has some details about some nasty allegations of his misconduct in the Navy.

UPDATE: III:

The First Rahm and Massa shower scene photoshop has been spotted.

UPDATE: IV:

Not to take anything away from BigFurHat’s expert photoshop skills, but he forgot something:

A naked power grab.

Thanks to Sharon for idea.

Oh look. My husband decided to join the fun:

LAST UPDATE:

It appears that my first impression was the correct one: This is just another corruptocrat story…although it’s not exactly a yawner…

Michelle Malkin weighs in:

Weapon of Massa distraction: Cold showers and hot conspiracies:

He’s been a progressive zealot and political opportunist his entire career. He’s claimed conspiracy before, is intimately bonded with the nutroots, and climbed the political ladder with backing from the odious, anti-war-hoaxer-embracing Gen. Wesley Clark. What Massa dismissively calls his “salty old sailor” talk should raise bright red flags about possible longstanding predatory behavior.

Creep factor: 10.

Look, I’m as happy as anyone to see Rahmbo and the Chicago Way slammed so openly by another Democrat. Naked shower fights? Blue-on-blue catfights?

Yep, it confirms everything I’ve been writing about the Obama Culture of Corruption the last two years.

But.

He’s a sick, desperate pol looking to save his hide and distract from his smelly ethics problems and personal problems. This is not a hero, not a bona fide champion of reform and integrity in government. He’s the jerk who gave the figurative middle finger to his own constituents as he proclaimed last year that he would ram single-payer down their throats no matter what they thought.

Allahpundit advises Beck to focus on the backroom deals and political pressure, but stay away from the ethics charges. Nobody cares about that.

His exit question: Is this a good idea?

And:

Jonah Goldberg weighs in at The Corner:

Maybe the facts will come to his rescue, but I just figured I’d get on the record about Eric Massa. I think he’s full of it. I don’t believe his story and I don’t believe that the ethics committee was going to railroad him for one “salty” comment at a wedding. I am sure that Rahm leaned on Massa, even in the shower. I’m sure that the White House has leaned on lots of people. But I don’t think Massa’s entirely self-serving story passes the smell test. So until I see some corroboration of his version, I’m not buying it.

AND:

Bob Lonsberry:

ERIC MASSA DUPES THE CONSERVATIVES