{"id":919,"date":"2018-04-27T22:38:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T02:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=919"},"modified":"2018-04-30T22:40:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T02:40:24","slug":"u-s-lawmaker-meehan-resigns-following-sexual-harassment-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=919","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Lawmaker Meehan Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"styles-headerBasic--3czk2 css-uvwqfx e111kb3g0\">\n<p class=\"css-ua6igs ejekc6u0\">By\u00a0<span class=\"css-1baulvz\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Reuters\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><time class=\"css-3u3suj eqgapgq0\" datetime=\"2018-04-27\">April 27, 2018<\/time><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"StoryBodyCompanionColumn css-1bytduc emamhsk0\">\n<div class=\"css-xk4wzv emamhsk2\">\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan, who used taxpayer money to settle a former staffer&#8217;s sexual harassment claim, resigned on Friday from the House of Representatives and said he would repay the U.S. Treasury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan announced in January he would not seek re-election after a $39,000 payment to a former aide who accused him of sexual harassment became public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Friday that he believes he would have ultimately been exonerated by the House Ethics Committee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">&#8220;I recognize that there are constituents who are disappointed in the manner in which I handled the situation that lead to my decision not to seek re-election and wish I had done better by them,&#8221; Meehan wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"StoryBodyCompanionColumn css-1bytduc emamhsk0\">\n<div class=\"css-xk4wzv emamhsk2\">\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan, 62, is a married father of three who has represented his southeastern Pennsylvania district since 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan&#8217;s payment was first made public by the New York Times amid a wave of harassment and abuse claims against well known men in entertainment, the news media and government since last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan has said in interviews that he considered the former aide, who is decades younger than him, his &#8220;soul mate.&#8221; He has denied that his behavior escalated to harassment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan used official congressional office funds to pay what he calls the $39,000 &#8220;severance payment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">There is a separate, official House fund, also funded by taxpayers, that pays harassment and discrimination settlements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-15v9f0h emamhsk1\">\n<div class=\"css-5s4xp8 ek9z99y2\">\n<article class=\"css-1dr52to ek9z99y0\">\n<div class=\"css-fvgnlc\">\n<figure class=\"SpanAsset-spanAsset--174gC SpanAsset-credit__none--29nZH\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"story-ad-2-wrapper\" class=\"ResponsiveAd-storyBodyAd--35v2w\">\n<div id=\"story-ad-2-slug\" class=\"ResponsiveAd-adSlug--3H3QM\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"StoryBodyCompanionColumn css-1bytduc emamhsk0\">\n<div class=\"css-xk4wzv emamhsk2\">\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan has said he received Ethics Committee approval to use office funds. At the time, Meehan was a committee member. Ryan removed Meehan from his ethics post after the allegations became public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan said he would pay $39,000 to the Treasury within 30 days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan&#8217;s payment to the staffer, whose name has not been made public due to a nondisclosure agreement, would likely show up as a salary payment in House records months after it was made.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Campaign finance law allows lawmakers to use campaign funds for office-holder expenses, including lawsuits that relate to their candidacy or status as a lawmaker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a really a close call and could go either way,&#8221; Campaign Legal Center&#8217;s Adav Noti said on the question of whether the Federal Election Commission would allow the use of campaign funds to pay harassment claims or severance payments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">Meehan&#8217;s campaign account had more than $2 million on hand as of March 31. His office did not respond when asked whether he would use personal funds to repay the Treasury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1laz1j e2kc3sl0\">(Reporting By Amanda Becker; editing by Clive McKeef)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-15v9f0h emamhsk1\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-of-article\">\n<div class=\"Addendum-addendums--1F9r3 Addendum-news--if0h7\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"SectionBarShare-shareMenu--2ndEi SectionBarShare-news--3cPaH SectionBarShare-bottom--3ONdV\" role=\"toolbar\" aria-label=\"Social Media Share buttons, Save button, and Comments Panel with current comment count\" data-testid=\"share-tools\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Reuters\u00a0\u00a0April 27, 2018 WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan, who used taxpayer money to settle a former staffer&#8217;s sexual harassment claim, resigned on Friday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-family"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-eP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":294,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=294","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":0},"title":"GOP congressman secretly paid $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment suit","author":"Donnie","date":"December 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Kerry Eleveld Friday Dec 01, 2017 GOP Rep. 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