The chairman of Pennsylvania’s Republican State Committee has resigned his post following publication of a news story Tuesday in which a former Philadelphia City Council candidate levelled sexual harassment allegations against him.

Valentino"Val" DiGiorgio III, an attorney who had headed the state GOP organization since February 2017, submitted his resignation effective immediately, according to committee spokesman Jason Gottesman. He is being succeeded on an interim basis by Vice-Chair Bernadette Comfort.

The allegations against DiGiorgio centered around his social media-based contacts - some of them sexually charged - from October through February with Irina Goldstein, a 35-year-old businesswoman who made an unsuccessful bid for a Republican city council nomination earlier this year.

Goldstein, in an article published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, alleged that she grew uncomfortable with the exchange over that time in part because of her feeling that DiGiorgio, as the state party chair, had “the upper hand” in their relationship.

But the report also notes that Goldstein, at times, appeared to be a willing participant in the exchanges, which occurred almost exclusively on-line. Goldstein, according to the report, was not raising any physical assault charges.

In his resignation letter, dated June 25, DiGiorgio makes a direct reference to The Inquirer’s report, saying it contains “gross mischaracterizations of mutual consensual communications between myself and a former primary candidate."

The letter,addressed to Comfort and the state’s two Republican National Committee members, Robert Asher and Christine Toretti, continues:

“My resignation should in no way be confused as confirmation of these mischaracterizations. I intend to rigorously defend myself against these assertions and protect my family, my colleagues and the party from this private matter.

“I extend my deepest apologies to my family and my colleagues for this unfortunate distraction,” DiGiorgio’s letter concludes.