Pat Meehan says he saw younger aide as 'a soul mate' but denies harassment

[brooklynite]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

U.S. Rep Pat Meehan said Tuesday he had developed a deep “affection” for a younger aide and told her that he saw her as “a soul mate” as they talked over ice cream one night last year, but in an interview with the Inquirer he said he never pursued a romantic relationship with the woman, who later accused him of sexual harassment.

Meehan, a Delaware County Republican, also acknowledged that he initially reacted “selfishly” when he found out the aide, decades younger than him, had entered into a serious relationship with another man, and shared a heartfelt, hand-written letter he wrote to her in May wishing her well, but also thanking God “for putting you into my life and for all that we have seen and experienced and genuinely shared together.”

He also said he intends to continue running for reelection in Pennsylvania’s Seventh District.

The comments were his first extensive response to a New York Times report Saturday that revealed that he had used thousands of taxpayer dollars to quietly settle a sexual harassment claim brought by the former aide, who was decades younger than the married, 62-year-old Congressman.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/pat-meehan-soul-mate-sexual-harassment-claim-20180123.html?amphtml=y&__twitter_impression=true

---

“...decades younger than the married, 62-year-old Congressman.

[Leghorn21]

1. Two scoops, I presume, eh Pat?

[brooklynite]

2. Only Trump gets two...

[SoCalMusicLover]

3. Religious Right Loves Those Family Values

What a bunch of Fucking Hypocrites that entire party is.

[marble falls]

4. Yuck. Just yuck.

[left-of-center2012]

5. GOP family values

What young woman could turn down this hottie?

[Sucha NastyWoman]

15. I think he is attractive.

But I am his age. I don’t know why a young person, decades younger than him, would find him romantically interesting.

But most importantly, I wonder how he would feel about someone decades older than his daughter pursuing her?

[left-of-center2012]

16. Yes, but ...

You are “Sucha NastyWoman”

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Just to add some bio info - this guy was the D.A. for Delaware County

before he ran for that PA-7 seat in 2010. PA-7 was previously Joe Sestak's seat, pre-redistricting, and Sestak resigned to run for for the Senate seat to replace Arlen Specter (when Specter bowed out from running again after switching parties to be a Democrat), and that Senate seat ended up going to Teabagger Toomey after Sestak lost. But Sestak had originally won PA-7 during the blue wave of 2006, when he ousted 10-term GOP congressman Curt Weldon. I.e., that district had become purple and was moving to blue, and it became a pickup. Meaning the GOP here in PA had to fuck with it at some point to put an end to that trend. Regardless, PA-7 is purple and a swing district, even in its current ragged configuration.

I hope to hell that the State Supreme Court demand to throw out the ugly congressional map here in PA holds firm and that district gets put BACK to what it should be.

I.e., this is the infamous one that looks like this (snaking through 5 counties and around minority-heavy towns like Pottstown, Reading, Coatesville, and Chester, and flowing through rural areas of Berks and Chester Counties) -

[procon]

9. Someone on TV referred to that map as a picture of Goofy fighting Donald Duck. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Apparently called "Goofy kicking Donald Duck"

and I never knew where that came from (certainly not from people in Philly or the district's local area) but I think I found the source - the Washington Post -

Name that District contest winner: ‘Goofy kicking Donald Duck’
By Aaron Blake December 29, 2011

Pennsylvania’s new 7th congressional district will henceforth be known as...

The winner of our latest “Name that District” contest is Fix reader tmbjon, who came up with the above nickname for the tortured-looking district created for freshman Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.).

Many of the entries suggested that the right half of the district looked as though it were kicking the left half, and many more suggested the right half of the district looked like Disney’s Goofy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/name-that-district-contest-winner-goofy-kicking-donald-duck/2011/12/29/gIQA2Fa2OP_blog.html?utm_term=.5dfec9411204

[kairos12]

7. GOP-Ghastly Old Perverts. Another disgusting Rethug.

[brush]

8. Ok, Dems, this is another House seat we should go hard after. He's vulnerable.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. They are

There were 6 originally looking to run for that seat, although the most well-known one (Daylin Leach) has had to drop out for similar reasons as Meehan is dealing with.

What might change the dynamic is if the state Supreme Court order to throw out and redraw the congressional map holds, and that means that district will probably be the first to be redrawn.

[DeminPennswoods]

12. Dave Reed the house majority leader

was quoted today that he believes the state supreme court will end up drawing the new map.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I wouldn't be surprised

although I understand that SC offered to allow the state to move the primary date past May to accommodate the process. I did hear on the news that the legislature is going to have to draft some legislation to do this too.

There is a group called "Fair Districts PA" that has some ideas including establishing an independent commission in the state in time for the 2020 redistricting, although given this court decision, they may have to modify their timelines.

[The_jackalope]

14. I've found two soulmates in this life (lucky me!) Both of them were my age...

Shouting "soulmate" in this situation doesn't get your soul off the hook, Mr. Meehan!

[keithbvadu2]

17. "severance," - How would that fit on a 1040?

“severance,” needs to be kept secret?

[Demonaut]

18. who cares about the "decades younger"..the age difference is NOT the issue.

he's married, he harassed her when he was in a position of power and he used tax payer money to settle...those are the issues!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. Yeeeeaaahhhh, soul mate. S-u-u-u-u-u-r-r-r-r-r-e.

Retweeted by Dave Weigel: https://twitter.com/daveweigel

.@RepMeehan voted against the GOP bill to repeal Obamacare partly to try to please a female aide he saw as his soulmate, per sources. He wrote to her that, on the day of the vote, “I had to say ‘no’ to @POTUS & to @SpeakerRyan, I got to say ‘yes’ to you”* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/politics/patrick-meehan-sexual-misconduct-complaint.html …

Link to tweet

On the bright side, he wrote in cursive.