In light of new revelations about Rep. Eric Massa’s (D., N.Y.) history of sexual misconduct toward his male staffers, House Minority Leader John Boehner is renewing calls for a full Congressional inquiry into what Congressional Democratic leadership knew and when they knew it.
From a statement released by Boehner this afternoon:
“It is now readily apparent that Congressman Massa’s pattern of troubling behavior continued long after Democrats first became aware of his conduct. Speaker Pelosi’s staff has acknowledged they knew about problems in Mr. Massa’s office back in the fall of 2009. What action, if any, did the Speaker and the Democratic leadership take to protect Rep. Massa’s subordinates from harassment and abuse?“
“Last month, the House of Representatives sent a clear signal that an investigation to examine and answer the very serious questions arising from Democratic Leaders’ response to their former colleague’s conduct is necessary. It is time for the Ethics Committee to heed this call and launch an investigation to determine what Democratic Leaders knew about former Rep. Massa’s behavior, and what they did to protect the staff who were being subjected to this predator. Democratic leaders in Congress promised the American people ‘the most honest, most open, and most ethical’ Congress in history, but they have broken that promise. We must get to the bottom of what happened in order to repair the broken bonds of trust between the Congress and the American people.”