John Shinkle/POLITICO Lee resigns over suggestive photo

Rep. Christopher Lee resigned Wednesday evening after it was revealed that he sent a suggestive photograph to a woman he met on the Internet, a swift outcome for a scandal that was over before it even began.

The New York Republican was the subject of a Gawker story Wednesday morning that said he allegedly looked for a female companion on Craigslist despite having a wife and child. The picture in question showed him posing with dress pants and no shirt, and the Gawker story revealed a string of e-mails suggesting he was looking to meet women on the Internet.


His resignation was stunning for how quickly it happened. There was hardly enough time for the story to become a full-blown scandal — the picture was posted after lunch, and Lee had resigned before the nightly news.

“It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York,” Lee wrote in a release he sent out hours after the story was posted. “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.”

Lee said 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.”

In the past, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other members of House leadership have made clear their zero tolerance for personal misconduct. Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said his office “doesn’t discuss conversations the speaker has with members.”

Lee, 46, was first elected to Congress in 2008 and gained a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee a few months ago.

The report on Gawker said Lee responded to a Craigslist advertisement looking for “financially & emotionally secure” men. He claimed to be a divorced, 39-year-old lobbyist who is “fit” and “fun,” according to the report.

Lee’s sudden departure — when the scandal was only four hours old, which, by congressional standards, was just the beginning — is the latest example of a lawmaker bailing before the media and political firestorm even begin.

Eric Massa, another ex-lawmaker from upstate New York, resigned from office in March 2010, just days after POLITICO revealed he was under investigation for allegedly harassing male staffers.

And ex-Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) quickly stepped aside last May after it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with a staffer. Boehner persuaded Souder to quickly depart the House.

Lee, sources said, was one of several junior GOP lawmakers that Boehner allegedly warned to “knock it off” with regard to his partying with female lobbyists last year.

New York’s 26th Congressional District, which Lee represented, is solidly Republican. It went firmly for George W. Bush in 2004, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won the district by 6 points in 2008. It includes parts of Erie County and extends into the Rochester suburbs.

A bastion of influential Republicans have represented the district, including former National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds, former Rep. Bill Paxon — once a close ally of former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

Lee is the second member of the House to announce their resignation this week. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) is stepping down to run a think tank.

Richard E. Cohen contributed to this report.