More Accusations Against Eric Massa

Former Rep. Eric Massa has been out of office for almost a month, but fresh allegations of his sexual advances towards male staffers continue to come out.

Beginning in March 2009 and over the next several months, male staffers complained that their boss had touched them in a sexual manner, came up with reasons to have staffers travel alone with him on overnight trips, and expressed a desire to have sex with the men in the office. [SNIP] One gay male staffer said he complained to [Massa chief of staff] Racalto in spring 2009 that Massa routinely made sexualized remarks to him. The staffer told Racalto he had grown distressed, because of two incidents he had heard about involving Massa allegedly making unwelcome sexual advances when sharing a hotel room with staffers. The staffer said that Racalto assured him that Racalto would talk to Massa and put a stop to this kind of conversation. But by summer, according to several sources, Massa's sexual commentary had escalated and some of it was directed at an intern.

The House Ethics Committee is now investigating when Democratic leaders first heard about the complaints and why they apparently never acted on them.

Auto-Tune The News #11

One of their best in a long time. The bit with Eric Massa totally kills. Ain't nuthin' wrong with a Massa massage.

Bryan Safi: Tips To Closeted Politicians

Traditional Values Coalition: Massa Attack

Andrea Lafferty at the Traditional Values Coalition took a little longer than expected to issue this bit of predictable blather.

The ex-Congressman from New York is now the new poster child for upholding the 1993 law banning gays and lesbians from serving in the military. His former Navy colleagues are coming out of hiding to expose his decades-long habit of trying to seduce his subordinates – known as “snorkeling” in the Navy. As the public learns more about Massa’s aggressive homosexual advances toward his subordinates, his former Navy colleagues are going public with lurid tales of his gay exploits aboard Naval vessels.

Here is a clear case of a gay sexual predator assaulting his subordinates in the Navy and getting away with it. Massa’s shipmates were afraid of turning him in for fear of retaliation. If the Congress overturns the 1993 law banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military, lechers like Massa will have free reign to aggressively stalk and conquer young subordinates. Does Congress really want to legalize the predatory behaviors of such men? Overturning the 1993 law will give gays and lesbians license to go after young soldiers, sailors and Marines. Men like Massa will then multiply in the Armed Forces – undermining unit cohesion and military readiness.

Lafferty omits the extremely inconvenient fact that Eric Massa is a straight-identified opposite-married man with four children. Just the type that commits the very offenses she claims to fear and someone that would be unaffected by a repeal of DADT.

TickleGate: SNL Rips Eric Massa

Nancy Pelosi Attacks Eric Massa

Rep. Patrick Kennedy Goes Off

Eric Massa's SnorkelGate

Eric Massa, the gift that keeps on giving. According to shipmates from his days in the Navy, Massa had a well-known habit of hitting on his fellow sailors, information that was supplied to the Congressional ethics committee. Massa resigned the next day.

According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. "Stuart's at the edge of the bed," Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, "and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, 'You'll have to get one of my special massages.' He called them 'Massa Massages.'" Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch's roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time. Borsch, now a history professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn't addresss that specific incident, but did confirm to me in an email that he was groped by Massa: "In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lt. Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me. (I was a lieutenant at the time.) I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it."

Clarke says that Massa's roommate, Tom Maxfield was also assaulted. "Tom lived on upper bunk," Clarke say. "When you're on ship, you're almost exhausted 24-7. So a lot of times you sleep with your uniform on. Tom and Massa shared a stateroom together. Massa climbed up on the top of his bunk, which is hard to do--you never crawl up on somebody else's bunk. He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him." Ron Moss also confirmed hearing this story from Maxfield. Maxfield did return calls and messages left for him--I'll update if he does.

I give it five minutes until the wingnuts use Eric Massa as the prime example of why DADT should not be repealed. Even though DADT certainly didn't stop Eric Massa, a purported STRAIGHT man who wouldn't be affected by the policy.

Train Wreck TV: Beck Vs. Massa

Here's ten minutes of last night's hilarious battle between Glenn Beck and Eric Massa. Beck closed the hour-long show by apologizing to the viewers for wasting their time.

Tickle Me Massa

Yesterday on Glenn Beck's show, former Rep. Eric Massa said that he'd had same-sex tickle fights with his staffers, prompting one of the most hilarious Twitter threads I've read since joining the service. According to Massa, it was those tickle fights that prompted the charges of male sexual harassment. (His story is changing every 12 hours!) And last night Larry King asked Massa if he is gay. Massa: "I'm not gonna answer that. In the year 2010, why don't you ask my wife? Ask my friends. Ask the 10,000 sailors I served with in the Navy." Massa called King's question insulting to "every gay American." King: "You said you groped someone! Who was a male!"

Ethics Probe: Former Rep. Eric Massa Sexually Groped Several Male Staffers

Just-resigned Rep. Eric Massa says he's only been guilty of "salty language" around his employees. But others say differently.

Former Rep. Eric Massa has been under investigation for allegations that he groped multiple male staffers working in his office, according to three sources familiar with the probe. The allegations surrounding the New York Democrat date back at least a year, and involve "a pattern of behavior and physical harassment," according to one source. The new claims of alleged groping contradict statements by Massa, who resigned his office on Monday after it became public that he was the subject of a House ethics committee investigation for possible harassment.

Yesterday Massa accused fellow Democrats of inventing the sexual harassment charge because he opposed the health care reform bill. That momentarily made him a hero to the teabaggers, but today Rush Limbaugh denounced Massa as a "complete loon."

RELATED: Massa has also told a curious story from his days in the Navy, when he walked in on a shipmate masturbating. "I smacked him on the leg, said, 'If you need any help with that, let me know,' and I went to bed," Massa said. Did he think that wouldn't inflame the charges of homo-harassment?

Rep. Eric Massa: Rahm Emanuel Is The Son Of The Devil's Spawn

Rep. Eric Massa has probably burned his last Democratic bridge. Expect a party change announcement any minute.

Outgoing Rep. Eric Massa went on a rant regarding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel today during a radio interview calling him the "son of the devil's spawn." Massa (D-NY) went on to say, "He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive." Rep. Massa describes a confrontation with Emanuel in a shower: "I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me." Massa went on to say that Emanuel would go to the Congressional gym to intimidate members of congress. Massa, who is due to resign from the House on Monday on sexual harassment allegations, alleged he "was set up for this form the very, very beginning," and that Emanuel was a key orchestrator in the plot to get rid of him.

Listen to the rant below.

Rep. Eric Massa: The Democrats Sank Me Because I Opposed Health Care Reform

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) says that the male sexual harassment investigation that forced his resignation announcement was a revenge plot by fellow Democrats for his opposition to health care reform.

"Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. "And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots." Massa insisted that he did not know the basis of a House ethics committee investigation into his conduct until after he announced his retirement last Wednesday, and he took House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to task for going public with information related to the probe before it is complete.

According to Massa, the sexual harassment charge comes from wedding party he attended on New Year's Eve.

"I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat at down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them, by the way bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don't know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that. And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, 'What I really ought to be doing is frakking you,' and then tossled the guy's hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn't be there. Was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely."

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) To Resign On Monday Over Ethics Charges

Just days after he revealed that he would not seek a second term in 2010, freshman Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) announced today he will resign on Monday. According to reports, Massa was pressured to resign by fellow Democrats who are alarmed over an ethics committee investigation into charges that Massa sexually harassed a male staffer.

In a statement posted on his website, Massa maintained his medical issues were his reason for stepping down, but for the first time he acknowledged the ethics committee investigation. "After I decided not to run again I was told, for the first time, that a member of my staff believed I had made statements that made him feel 'uncomfortable.' I was told that a report had been filed with the Congressional Ethics Committee. At no point prior to this had any member of the Ethics Committee communicated with me directly - if [sic] fact I first read it on the internet," Massa said in the statement. "In fact, there is no doubt that this Ethics issue is my fault and mine alone. But in the incredibly toxic atmosphere that is Washington D.C., with the destruction of our elected leaders having become a blood sport, especially in talk radio and on the internet, there is also no doubt that an Ethics investigation would tear my family and my staff apart," Massa said. "My difficulties are of my own making. Period."

New York Gov. David Paterson, should he last longer than Massa (and right now, that's iffy), will have to decide whether to call a special election to temporarily fill Massa's House seat between now and November. The winner of that special election would have to re-run for the seat again in the fall.

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) To Retire Amid Male Sexual Harassment Rumors

First term Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will not seek a second term in 2010. Although Massa cites a recent cancer diagnosis as part of the reason for his retirement, as yet unsubstantiated rumors in the U.S. House are flying that opposite-married Massa is being investigated by the Ethics Committee for sexually harassing a male staffer.

Massa, whose departure endangers Democrats’ hold on a competitive seat, told POLITICO Wednesday afternoon that no one has brought allegations of misconduct to him. Asked about the sexual harassment allegations, Massa said: "When someone makes a decision to leave Congress, everybody says everything. I have health issues. I'll talk about it [later].” Massa recently suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and he has said that his experience with cancer drove his interest in running for office so he could help reform the health care system. A 20-year Navy veteran, Massa was elected to office last November. He serves on the Agriculture, Armed Services and Homeland Security committees. Massa is scheduled to hold a conference call at 3:30 this afternoon to announce his decision, which came as a complete surprise to several of his freshman Democratic colleagues in the New York delegation. Massa has played a gadfly-like role in the House, calling for a single-payer health care system at a conference of liberal activists last year despite representing a Republican-leaning district. He was one of 39 House Democrats to vote against health care legislation; he said it didn’t do enough to control costs.

Massa has made a lot of noise in his one term. Massa, Paterson, Rangel...who's the next New York Democrat to self-implode? This all sucks.

(Tipped by JMG reader Rob)