CLARENCE,USA – A married New York congressman accused of sending a shirtless photo of himself to a woman abruptly resigned Wednesday, saying he regretted actions that had hurt his family and others.The gossip website Gawker reported Wednesday that Rep. Christopher Lee, a two-term Republican with a young son, had e-mailed the photo to a woman he met on the Craigslist classified-ads website.
- Lee said in an e-mailed statement that his resignation was effective immediately. The statement offered no confirmation or details of a Craigslist posting.
- Lee said the challenges faced in western New York, where he serves the 26th Congressional District, and across the country are "too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately."
- Lee's resignation comes almost a year after Democrat Eric Massa resigned his seat in western New York's 29th Congressional District amid an investigation into whether he sexually harassed male staffers. Massa gave contradictory explanations for his behavior, acknowledging he groped and tickled a staffer in a nonsexual way and wrestled with others at his 50th birthday party but then denying any groping occurred.
- In Lee's case, a woman described as a 34-year-old Maryland resident and government employee provided Gawker with e-mails she said were an exchange between her and Lee in response to an ad she placed last month in the "Women Seeking Men" section of Craigslist.
- Gawker reported that Lee identified himself as a divorced lobbyist and sent a photo of himself posing shirtless in front of a mirror. It said the woman eventually broke off the contact with Lee after becoming suspicious that he had misrepresented himself.
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