FOX News broke this story. It says Souder is resigning his seat to avoid a House Ethics Committee investigation. Fox News reports:
Eight-term Rep. Mark Souder will announce his resignation Tuesday after it came to light that he was conducting an affair with a female aide who worked in his district office, Fox News has learned.Gov. Daniels will be required to call for a special election to fill his unexpired term. This will likely set off a mad scramble within both parties to fill this seat and his spot on the Republican ticket this November. Stay tuned. I'm expecting Marlin Stutzman, who ran a strong race in the U.S. Senate primary, and who has strong name recognition and popularity in northeastern Indiana to enter the race shortly. This is one affair that I don't care to learn the details about. Geesh, this must have been one desparate person.
Multiple senior House sources indicated that the extent of the affair with the 45-year-old staffer would have landed Souder before the House Ethics Committee.
Elected as a family values conservative as part of the Republican revolution in 1994, Souder survived a tough re-election challenge in 2008 and survived a contested primary two weeks ago.
Souder was absent from Washington most of last week, missing multiple votes and only voting on Thursday. While the rumors had been flying, Souder claimed that he was at home tending to his ill wife.
All the way through his election, Souder tried to knock down the affair story, calling it revenge politics at play. But the backroom chatter in Indiana and among the GOP on Capitol Hill became too much to survive. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was informed as late as Monday night that Souder would give up his post.
Souder's resignation would make him the second lawmaker to step down in less than two months. In March, former Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., resigned amid allegations that he sexually harassed male staffers. Massa's case is now before the House Ethics Committee.
UPDATE: It looks like automobile dealer Bob Thomas may be planning to enter the race. He just put out a statement saying he would release a statement on Souder's resignation on Thursday and be available for interviews on Monday. He lost to Souder in the primary. One negative campaign mailer put out by the Souder campaign badly damaged Thomas' chances when it disclosed a palatial mansion where Thomas actually lives in Carmel outside the Third District; he only rents a modest apartment in Ft. Wayne where he claims his residency for voting purposes.
It looks like the female part-time staffer is also a Christian radio broadcaster in Ft. Wayne. That's how Souder first met her during regular appearances on her talk show.
News reports say that the congressman’s zipper got stuck and his female aide ran smack into him. Continuously. And over a long period of time. It was all just harmless accidents.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. These family value Congressmen all seem to have the same problem with their zippers.
Of course, liberals aren’t any better at the zipper thing. They just don’t run on a campaign that says “My zipper is always zipped”
So what happens to the GOP nomination? Does the state or local GOP vote on someone?
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if it's just more difficult to keep a secret these days, or merely more difficult to elect an honest, respectable politician.
ReplyDeleteEach party will caucus and the pcs in the district will select their respective candidates just like occurred with the Carson seat here.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, a Republican does the honorable thing.
ReplyDeleteIf this were a democrat, first of all, you may never even hear of it, secondly, EVERY democrat would circle the wagons around him/her and fight to the death to defend them.
Here is a perfect example of my last post, from today's politico.com.
ReplyDelete"...DSCC Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Tuesday Democrats “will continue to support” embattled candidate Richard Blumenthal in his bid to become the next senator from Connecticut..."
This was after it was discovered that Menendez had been lying to the public for 30 years about serving in Viet Nam. In fact, he never left the United States while serving in the reserves.
Remember all the stories about W Bush and the National Guard?
Good riddance to Souder. Another so-called "family values" hypocrite hoisted by his own peterd.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet the rest of them will still carry on like they have the fate-given right to demonize OUR families, when they can't even be faithful to their own...
Men who cheat on their wives are not unusual, and if the mistress did not work under him, I doubt that he would be resigning. I hope the Souders can salvage their marriage, and feel sorry for their children. Let he who is without sin, throw stones at Mark.
ReplyDeleteHey concerned - nice switcheroo there throwing bricks at the Dems after it's Souder who was caught offering a bit of horizontal guidance to one of his employees. Boy, I sure do remember the Dems rallying behind John Edwards last year when he cheated on his cancer-stricken wife and then denied his child was his.
ReplyDeleteOh wait. That never happened.
Souder is a creep. Just like Edwards. Or Larry Craig. Or Mark Sanford. Or John Ensign. Or Eric Massa. Or Elliott Spitzer. Or . . . damn, this is getting depressing