IT TOOK only 3½ hours for Republican Congressman Christopher Lee to be brought down by the sex scandal he initiated on the internet.
Lee ran a family machine manufacturing company in western New York before he was elected to represent the 26th Congressional district in 2008. He was easily re-elected last November.
Lee responded to an advertisement in the “Women for Men” section of the Craigslist website, seeking a man who was financially and emotionally secure. “Will someone prove to me not all CL men look like toads?” the woman wrote. “Hi. Hope I’m not a toad,” Lee said in his first message. He lied about his marital status, claiming to be divorced, shaved seven years off his age, claiming to be 39, and presented himself as a lobbyist instead of a Congressman. He described himself as: “a very fit fun classy guy. Live in Cap Hill area. 6 ft 190 lbs blond/blue”.
After the woman responded flirtatiously, Lee photographed himself in a bathroom mirror with his mobile phone, shirtless and flexing an arm to show his muscles. “I promise not to disappoint,” he said.
The woman, identified by the gossip site Gawker only as a government employee, then researched Lee’s name on the internet and discovered his true identity. She turned the e-mail exchange over to Gawker, which traced Lee’s e-mail address to his Facebook account. Gawker published the exchange online at 2.33pm on Wednesday.
Lee’s office initially suggested someone had hacked into his computer. A Fox television reporter doorstepped Lee later in the afternoon. “I have to work this out with my wife,” he said.
At 6pm, a clerk announced Lee’s resignation in the House chamber. “I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents,” Lee said in a statement. “I deeply and sincerely apologise to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.”
Lee had taken a conservative stance on moral issues. He pushed for legislation to restrict abortion by cutting tax breaks for employers who provided health insurance that covered abortion, and opposed ending discrimination against gays in the military.
Lee was recently given a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, the sign of a promising future. His fall was so sudden that constituents learned of his resignation before they knew of the scandal.