PA GOP Rep Patrick Meehan A-hole and Dumb as F&ck.
This is a two-fer. How often do these creeps reveal themselves to be: 1) A creepy old fuck, and 2) dumber than a box of Oreos?
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Meehan, a Pennsylvania Republican who has taken a leading role in fighting sexual harassment in Congress, used thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to settle his own misconduct complaint after a former aide accused him last year of making unwanted romantic overtures to her, according to several people familiar with the settlement.
A married father of three, Mr. Meehan, 62, had long expressed interest in the personal life of the aide, who was decades younger and had regarded the congressman as a father figure, according to three people who worked with the office and four others with whom she discussed her tenure there.
But after the woman became involved in a serious relationship with someone outside the office last year, Mr. Meehan professed his romantic desires for her — first in person, and then in a handwritten letter — and he grew hostile when she did not reciprocate, the people familiar with her time in the office said.
Links would be great plz thx
What are Meehan’s plans? Try to tough it out, resign or the famed “not seek another term” exit?
This guy will not run again….. this seat in play now, swingy district
I think resignation this week.
At first I almost felt sorry for the guy and his pathetic Walter Mitty delusions that this woman young enough to be his daughter would fall for him. But the report says “then he became hostile,” and I suspect the details of that hostility will doom him.
That’s cool. Another winnable special on the docket.
Yes but Dems have to start from scratch to find a candidate. The Dem opponent , progressive state legislator Davlin Leach, has his own harassment accusations to deal with and will almost certainly drop out.
True dat. But I think this is a district where the names of the candidates almost won’t matter. Philly burbs are out for Trump’s blood big time.
this will lean D with Meehan out….this district crazily stretches from Media out to Lancaster…. bizarre looking district… Meehan was tough to beat, as a reasonable respected moderate R….but hes toast now…. he will be out soon enough…
Curt Weldon’s relentless shilling for Boeing now seems welcome, no matter how many service men and women were killed in that piece of shit V-22.
Lean D? Get real, Chris, this one’s gone. Meehan was not tough to beat, and the evidence is all those Ds vying for the nomination. The papers only mention two or three, but there are a bunch of minor candidates, too.
We never see that in Delaware because our filing fees are, maybe not coincidentally, higher than the state’s average political bribe.
@lebay: What’s important is that whatever piece of shit is produced is produced in his district. Priorities!
If you’re keeping score on this one at home, Meehan’s timing couldn’t be worse, what with last weekend’s Women’s Marches. He even drew protesters:
http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20180123/NEWS/180129948
Pat Meehan is awesome. I seriously doubt he would harass anyone. That pic is not about this situation. Working with someone and having feelings is not harassment. It’s human and I have no doubt he will be re-elected!!!! He’s loved by so many in our township and community.
Uh, your link goes to someone named Megan Meehan, not Megan Miller. Is that you? Are you related to the representative?
Working with someone and having feelings is not harassment. Working over someone, having feelings and expressing them certainly can be.
@MM “Working with someone and having feelings is not harassment.”
That in itself is true. It all depends on what you do about it.
“It’s human and I have no doubt he will be re-elected!!!! ”
Nah. You forgot that there are two crimes here. Once you use thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to solve the problem, you’re done.
Daily Kos has updated the story with reaction from his office and some of the gag-worthy details from Meehan’s interview with The Inquirer.
No not related. Without the other side to this story we can’t make a judgement. I believe Pat Meehan will run for re-election and he will win it. He’s a tough candidate to beat even with this!
@MM “Without the other side to this story we can’t make a judgement.”
No. We can make a judgement. He actually used taxpayer money to cover up whatever he did. That alone disqualifies him for office. We don’t need to hear any other side.
Besides, the other side of the story is that he considered her his ‘soul mate’.
We have the facts. All the rest is smoke, mirrors and deflection.
MM, your uncle or whatever now blames it all on Obamacare. (link below) BTW, I know its close by, but Delawareans won’t actually be the ones to vote your grandpa out of office. Of course, I think he resigns.
https://thinkprogress.org/meehan-obamacare-harassment-c63f8fac1ac0/
Who knows… with the PA districts being redrawn, maybe we will get a chance to not vote for him?
It may also affect the Lancaster area… seeing as 7 is so screwed up and janky. Maybe, referencing your other post, Jess King can mount a campaign against whatever Pelosi-Bot shows up.
Megan’s excessive use of exclamation marks in a big tell. Rube mentality.
This guy wrote a staffer a hand-written love note and called her his “soul mate.”
Megan – Go fuck off now.
Meehan also gave his side of the story to the Delaware County Times.
He probably ought to shut up. The interview above makes it clear that there is no way to explain this that will make it look good, and all this flailing about “soul mates” does is make him look weak and pathetic. Jesus, fella, if a long-married man in a highly visible position — one who claims to go to Mass every morning, at that — is going to fall in love with his decades-younger aide, he should have the good sense to tell nobody about it other than his confessor, or get out of the public spotlight by retiring.
He obviously hasn’t yet realized that his career is over. Someone ought to tell him that, while the average white citizen’s level of racial animus is the same in DelCo as it is in much of the South, Pennsylvania is not Tennessee. Scott DeJarlais got away with pretending to be anti-abortion while paying to end his mistress’ pregnancies; Tim Murphy didn’t.
Even if he gave her the money, just because he liked her, that would still be really bad.
Here is their thought process after a bad political staff meeting:
Her: That was awful. I’m just happy that’s over with…
Him: She looks happy! She thinks I’m great!
Her: Oh no. He’s grinning at me again. Smile.. just smile.
Him: She’s smiling at me! She’s my soul mate!!!
@LE: I used to think that the ratio of men who got into politics for money vs. those who did it to get laid was about 75-25 in favor of greed. Now I realize it’s more like 50-50.
Turns out a lot of men in late middle age apparently revert to emotional adolescence. As with many of the revelations of the #metoo era, I had no idea it was so many.
Alby, have you revisited your assertion that the METOO movement is not a significant cultural revolution? Im not “trying to play gotcha”, I’m just wondering if you’ve rethought some initial reactions to it in light of… ya know, it’s still here.
To me, anyway, it doesnt appear to be slowing down… if anything, considering cases like Aziz Ansari, I think the discussion is still broadening. A LOT of people are going to have to adapt their behavior to get left in the dust (many of whom deserved such a long time ago)
I think it is a significant cultural revolution, and always have. I question its utility as a political tool. Too double-edged for my taste. I also question the ability of effecting that change through legislation.
We did that with civil rights. As a result, the city of Wilmington has been sued for, and lost, discrimination cases brought by both black and white plaintiffs. Any laws that produce such outcomes are obviously not working toward the ends in mind at their conception.
Just because we only have a hammer doesn’t make the issue a nail.
100% correct.
One can appreciate an important and long overdue cultural watershed AND understand it has little political usefulness. Our political message cannot rely on identity and unique cultural experience of individuals. It needs to understand those issues and address them, but draw everyone into the struggle for respect, dignity and fair treatment.
Left is best.
The Meehan story is now at the top of HuffPo’s trending list. This is not a guy you should put in charge of damage control.
His account makes the payout seem like a lovely parting gift.