Republicans have struggled badly throughout the current Congress, though there haven’t been many sex scandals. Of course, the current Congress isn’t over just yet.
The New York Times reported on new allegations surrounding Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York, who only arrived on Capitol Hill last year.
Shortly after taking the oath of office, the first-term congressman hired his longtime fiancée’s daughter to work as a special assistant in his district office, eventually bumping her salary to about $3,800 a month, payroll records show. In April, Mr. D’Esposito added someone even closer to him to his payroll: a woman with whom he was having an affair, according to four people familiar with the relationship.
According to the Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, the new congressman, just months into his career, paid the woman with whom he was having an affair $2,000 a month for a part-time job, in addition to the $3,800 a month he was paying his fiancée’s daughter.
The article added, however, that a few months later his fiancée found out about the affair, and briefly broke up with him, at which point the New York Republican stopped paying both women.
After the Times’ report reached the public, D’Esposito issued a statement, describing the article as a “hit piece” and “tabloid garbage,” before saying, “My personal life has never interfered with my ability to deliver results for New York’s 4th district, and I have upheld the highest ethical standards of personal conduct.”
When he arrived on Capitol Hill the following morning, he had even less to say.
Rep D'Esposito, endangered NY GOP, refuses to respond to questions about NYT report that he hired his mistress and fiancés daughter pic.twitter.com/RyQUTypkRW It’s tempting to think this sordid tale, if true, is a personal matter, but the details suggest that it’s not quite that simple. For one thing, D’Esposito stands accused of potentially misusing $29,000 in taxpayer funds, and as the Times’ report added, this has generated ethics questions that probably need answers. The House code of conduct prohibits members of Congress from employing spouses or relatives, including stepchildren. Though Mr. D’Esposito has never married, congressional ethics experts said that employing a woman akin to his stepdaughter, who shared a home with him, could breach the requirement that members of Congress “adhere to the spirit and the letter of the rules.” A separate provision adopted in the wake of the #MeToo movement explicitly states that lawmakers “may not engage in a sexual relationship with any employee of the House who works under the supervision of the member.”
What’s more, there are electoral considerations to keep in mind: D’Esposito narrowly defeated Democrat Laura Gillen in 2022, and the two will face off in a rematch in November. This is a district Joe Biden carried by 14 points in 2020, and Republican leaders were concerned — before this week — about the incumbent congressman’s prospects. The latest allegations probably won’t help D’Esposito’s re-election bid.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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