A prominent Democratic lawmaker’s once promising career was in danger on Tuesday after he acknowledged sending a lewd photo to a woman over Twitter and then lying repeatedly to protect himself.
Congressman Anthony Weiner, who also acknowledged that he had engaged in inappropriate contact with several other women, refused to resign even as Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi formally requested a House ethics investigation into whether he broke the rules.
Weiner made the extraordinary confession at a packed Manhattan news conference on Monday, clips of which were being played constantly on cable news shows. The conference went on nearly half an hour and capped a week of double-entendre, tabloid-headlines and late-night jokesters’ snide comments. The word “weiner”, a type of sausage, is also a slang term for penis.
The National Republican Congressional Committee seized on the scandal as a 2012 campaign issue, issuing news releases calling on more than a dozen House Democrats to return campaign contributions from Weiner.
Chairperson of the Republican Party Reince Priebus said in a statement that either House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz believe that members of Congress are held to a different standard, or they believe the congressman’s actions demand his departure from the House.
The Democratic National Committee did not have an immediate comment. However, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid delivered a rebuff to Weiner, a clear sign of the frustrations fellow Democrats have with a scandal they want to see over as soon as possible.
“I know Congressman Weiner,” Reid told reporters. “I wish there was some way I could defend him, but I can’t.”
House Democratic leaders tersely expressed disappointment and embarrassment, reflecting an erosion of support for the 46-year-old New York congressman and casting doubts on whether Weiner could hold on to his House seat let alone turn a once-promising political career into a 2013 bid for New York City mayor.
A poll released on Tuesday found that about half of New York City voters think Weiner should hang on to his congressional seat. But most say they want him to stay out of the race to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013.
The Marist Poll found 51% said Weiner should remain in Congress, while 30% said he should step down, and 18% said they weren’t sure. But 56% said Weiner should not run for mayor, while 25% said he should. Nineteen percent said they were unsure.
The survey of 379 registered voters was conducted on Monday and had a sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points.
Republicans, who have faced their own scandals, are using the incident to pressure Democrats. President Barack Obama is seeking a second term and congressional Democrats are hoping to bolster their slim majority in the Senate and trying to reverse some of their losses in the House of Representatives after Republicans won a majority last year.
Eligible bachelor
Weiner, an outspoken liberal congressman, insisted he had done nothing illegal and said he would fully cooperate with a House inquiry.
“People who draw conclusions about me are free to do so,” Weiner said. “I’ve worked for the people of my district for 13 years and in politics for 20 years and I hope they see fit to see this in the light that it is.”
The married Weiner also acknowledged that he had engaged in inappropriate contact with six women over the course of three years through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and occasionally over the phone. He said he had never met or had a physical relationship with any of the women and was not even sure of their ages. He also said he had never had sex outside of his marriage.
Last July, Weiner married Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, with former president Bill Clinton officiating. Abedin was born in the US and is of Indian and Pakistani descent. Before his marriage, Weiner had been known as one of New York’s most eligible bachelors.
Abedin did not attend his news conference, but Weiner said they would not be separating over the scandal.
Abedin, who has had no comment on her husband’s controversy, was on a flight late on Tuesday with Hillary Clinton to the Middle East and Africa.
Among the women Weiner contacted, Meagan Broussard, told ABC News that Weiner “friended” her on Facebook after she commented on one of his speeches posted online on April 20. They exchanged more than 100 messages, and Weiner constantly tried to steer the conversation toward sex.
During Weiner’s news conference, the lawmaker confirmed that Broussard was one of the women with which he had exchanged messages.
The scandal began more than a week ago when a conservative website reported that a photo of a man’s crotch had been sent from Weiner’s Twitter account to a female college student in Seattle.
Weiner said he used his home computer and personal Blackberry, not government computers, in his exchanges with the women. But that may not protect him from House rules that say a member “shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House”.
On numerous occasions, the House ethics committee has cited that general rule in finding that a lawmaker violated standards of conduct.
In her brief statement, Pelosi said she was “deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation”. She mentioned Weiner’s wife, his family, staff and constituents, but pointedly did not mention the congressman. – Sapa-AP