Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Rep. Christopher Lee Resigns

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What are people hearing on this resignation of Congressman Lee?  Daily Kos has a thread on the resignation.  

“In what may be the fastest-moving sex scandal ever, Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) has announced that “effective immediately,” he is resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives:”

It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.

The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.

Is there anyone out there familiar with the distict?  

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  2. Also I hear he set a record for shortest amount of time passed from revelation to resignation.

    • doesn’t strike me as remarkably conservative.

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      p>Short election, the Dems are surging in popularity [nationwide] since the November election… the Dems could certainly sneak out a win on this race.

        • Lee won in 2008 55-40 IIRC… but you can’t really use congressional races to gauge the partisanship of a district because of the vast difference in resources expended in a campaign, etc.

        • that he resigned and the Republicans were hit with a scandal there. The POTUS numbers in that district are probably more relevant, though I’d suggest that seat’s one of the more likely now to be phased out since NY’s lost several seats in the census.  

      • is an R+6 district, which makes it pretty Republican, though by no means impossible for a Democrat to represent.

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        p>Note, however, that this district will likely disappear following redistricting. Lee was probably a goner anyway due to New York losing an upstate district (along with a NYC-area district). So even if a Democrat wins the special election, which would be unlikely but possible, it won’t do us too much good.

        • to be held by the other party. A major scandal, combined with a special election timetable, could certainly make it possible… but we probably couldn’t hold it for very long.

      • the Dems are surging in popularity [nationwide] since the November election

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        p>So, any links to this claim?

  3. It doesn’t seem like enough to me. It’s embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem to rise to the level of resignation.

    • First, I think Lee was probably in prime position to lose his seat anyway due to redistricting in the next cycle (and he likely knows it), so he might have figured it just wasn’t worth fighting the bad media headlines for a few more months of being a U.S. Representative.

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      p>Secondly, it’s also probable that the Republican leadership wanted to can him as soon as possible. Especially since he’s a freshman Rep. at the beginning of a new majority, I doubt they wanted a drawn-out episode with this guy. A simple “we will not support you in two years,” along with the factor above, may have gotten Lee to realize he’s toast.

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      p>Finally, it’s possible he really does want the time to work this out with his family. It sounds like he has a problem, so hopefully for his own good he overcomes his issues. And that picture is pretty embarrassing, so the faster it goes out of the news, the better, as far as he’s concerned.

  4. Anyone here got Emily’s List connections? I have a friend in NY-26 who’s interested in running for Congress. Can’t say who yet b/c I don’t think she’s announced her intentions publicly, but anyone with the connections, please email me at long2024@gmail.com so we can talk.

  5. I live in the 26th NY district (I love Boston and Massachusetts to death, which is why I look here). The 26th district… mostly rural… based in the western suburbs of Rochester (where I live) and going through several rural counties (Wyoming, Genessee, Orleans) to suburbs of Buffalo. It’s primarily farm country, very Western-style libertarianism… Tom Reynolds had it drawn in ’03 so he could vote like a Southern conservative. It’s not a bad place to live… it’s very pretty in the summer and fall, there’s lots of farm-type activites to do, not unlike the Berkshires or Vermont (pumpkin-picking, APPLES, hayrides, haunted houses, and so on). I just wanted to clear up the misconception that it’s Buffalo-based… it’s based in some suburbs of Buffalo, but it’s as culturally different from  Ra-cha-cha as two ugly step sisters could be. I barely ever think of Buffalo, and neither do most of the people in Monroe County, unless they have business or relatives there. We have some things in common with Mass… actually a lot: property taxes, school aid, corruption (though our’s comes from Republicans, who’ve had a stranglehold on our politics for 20 years and are even less competent and intelligent than their national counterparts, so you can imagine). I hope I’ve helped to give you all a bit of a better sense of the place where I live, and this helps you understand how we could be so stupid. I’m very happy to be here at Blue Mass Group… Go SOX! (the real Yankees).  

    • Haven’t here at BMG long m’self, but am interested in the exchanges of Dem opinion and ideas.

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      p>Your district sound like you need a camera to grasp the landscape, and a bottle of Excedrin to grasp the politics!

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      p>  

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