Even as disgraced onetime U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner contemplates a return to politics, another politician has been accused of following in the dubious footsteps that led to his downfall.
MailOnline reports that Massachusetts state representative John Fresolo is under investigation after allegedly sending “lascivious photos of his privates” to the computer of a female co-worker at the State House in Boston.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo has not confirmed any accusations in the case except that he did say there was ‘sufficient cause’ for an investigation.
‘In order to protect the integrity of the Ethics Committee investigation, Speaker DeLeo will have no further comment on this matter,’ spokesman Seth Gitell said.
One interesting wrinkle in the case, from a journalistic standpoint, is that the local media have more or less buried Fresolo’s party affiliation (h/t Jammie Wearing Fool). Consider this report by the State House News Service, which — according to its own lights — covers “State and Local Government, House and Senate Sessions, Press Conferences” in the Bay State. The fact that Fresolo is a Democrat is not revealed until the sixth paragraph, nearly 200 words into the article.
Fresolo meantime is no stranger to scandal. He has a history of domestic violence that includes an arrest in 1996 for beating his then-wife (charges were subsequently dropped) and allegations a decade later of physically abusing his 13-year-old daughter.
When confronted directly by one reporter with respect to the current accusations, Fresolo would not deny the claims, saying only “I’m going to hang up now, but I want you to know I am not resigning.”
Blogger Michele McPhee reports that Fresolo is now on paid administrative leave, which apparently is not sitting well with his House colleagues. One told McPhee on condition of anonymity:
It’s bad enough that he pulled an Anthony Weiner and had pictures of his penis on State House computers, but then he tried to get his per diem pumped up. No one puts in for 220 days of commuting and with his commute that’s a lot of money.
The whole sordid affair is an interesting statement coming from a representative of a party that insists there is a conservative-led “war on women.”
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