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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Pence Ratted Out Souder To Ethics Committee
U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, the number three leader in the House Republican caucus, learned from U.S. Rep. Mark Souder last Thursday that he was having an affair after approaching Souder based on an inquiry made by a member of the news media. According to Pence's account, however, Souder did not inform him until Sunday evening that he was having an affair with a member of his staff. Pence immediately informed the House Ethics Committee of Souder's transgression reports the Washington Post. Pence says he told Souder on Sunday evening that he thought he should resign immediately after learning that he had an affair with a staff member. Souder announced his resignation after Pence notified the House Ethics Committee. There apparently is an effort among some Republicans in the Third District to blame the disclosure to the media on State Senator Marlin Stutzman, who has told reporters he is considering entering the special election race to replace Souder, along with a bevy of other candidates. Other accounts suggest the affair was peddled by the campaign of Bob Thomas during his recent primary bid against Souder.
Possibly part of a (risky) strategy to get a more conservative person into that spot?
ReplyDeleteThe Freedom Index rating for Souder was only 40% last year (I think) and 55% this year. Pence was 90% last year and around 66% this year (trailing Burton this year @ 75%)
Knowing about the pernicious behavior of so very many Congressmen over the years, it did surprise me that, though married, Souder's consensual heterosexual affair would so promptly be the cause of an investigation by the Ethics Committee. Is Mike Pence as full of himself as he appears?
ReplyDeleteThe affair story wasn't "peddled" by anyone. It was leaking out one face to face conversation at a time. I'm 100 miles away from the district and it was told to me a week before the primary.
ReplyDeleteI did some preliminary research and found that it had been out there for a while and that no one had come up with a confirmation so far. As a conservative blogger I had no reason to post pure gossip about a sitting Congressman. Would you have?
There was no strategy here, Souder was a dufus and got caught. Luckily Fox News kept digging long enough to spook him into telling Pence and beginning the process of going public.
To paint this as Bob Thomas or Randy Borror or Wes Culver or Marlin Stutzman spreading rumors to get rid of him is fools gold. If any of them heard the rumor they probably did the same thing I did. Checked, found it to be unconfirmed, and left it alone.
I saw one commenter in Fort Wayne suggested that Randy or Marlin should have confronted the Congressman the week before the primary and threatened to go the media. Isn't that blackmail in some states?
Gary, "ratted out" has a negative connotation to it. The fact is, Pence learned that the affair was with a staffer & reported it to the ethics committee, just as he was supposed to do. Had Pence kept mum, he could've opened himself up to allegations that he helped cover up the affair.
ReplyDeleteCarlos, It's the first question people always ask in these matters. Who ratted him out. It's not intended to be negative, although it has certainly turned into a negative towards Marlin Stutzman's chances of replacing him. I guess there is a big push back from folks who are blaming him for it. I don't fault him if he did. He worked for him and believed he was sincere in his Christian beliefs, only to learn that he was banging another "Christian" on his payroll.
ReplyDelete