An anonymous commenter points out the audio of Eric Massa's radio WKPQ program. Massa does four things in the program.
1. He describes the behavior that he thinks led to the ethics investigation.
Massa says that he was at a wedding over New Year's Eve. His wife had gone to bed, ill, and he was hanging out with the bachelors of his staff. He had danced with the bride and a bridesmaid. After he was done dancing, his staff made a few comments about what he ought to do with the bridesmaid. Massa tousled the hair of one of his staff members and said, "Maybe I ought to fuck you." Massa says he then went to bed at the hotel where the reception was held.
Massa thinks that another staff member facilitated this staff member's complaint of Massa's inappropriate behavior.
2. He identifies a real ethics issue that he thinks was the subject of another investigation.
He says that one of his staffers had sent out a fundraising letter that shouldn't have been sent out. He said he heard of an investigation around Feb 9, and believes that the investigation was due to that letter.
3. He accuses House leadership of getting rid of him.
He notes that even though Steny Hoyer says he contacted his office, he's never talked to the man in his life. He accuses House leadership of masterminding an ethics investigation to get rid of him so the healthcare reform bill will pass.
4. He launches into an impassioned denial of the accusations made by Bob Lonsberry's anonymous sources concerning alleged harassing homosexual behavior committed by Massa during his Navy service.
Massa tells a couple of Navy stories that aren't related to Lonsberry's accusations. He accuses Lonsberry of being ignorant of the fact that it is a setup.
Massa references a couple of stories during this discussion. One was by Laurie Kellman of the AP, this might be it. The other is from Roll Call, and it points out that Massa's resignation makes it more likely that the HCR bill will pass.
Massa then goes off on a long discussion, noting that he has gay staff members. He says he won't be ashamed of his actions, other than inappropriate verbal language.
"If you don't believe they came after me to get rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote in the healthcare bill, then you live in a world that is so innocent that you don't understand what's going on in Washington, DC."
The audio drops out a bit, but it sounds like Massa waved around a CAT scan that shows some tissue that can either be a tumor or scar tissue.
He says "a pox on both parties", and that if he ever runs again, it will be as an Independent.
Saying this is a must-listen is the understatement of four years following Massa.
Comments
Eric Massa has clearly lost his mind. He's making insane statements now. My guess is that the other shoe hasn't dropped yet with the really juicy gossip and he's trying to preempt that by saying it's a conspiracy 48 hours after he voluntarily announced his resignation.
He calms down toward the end. But he's pretty unhinged at the start.
If you listen through, he seems to be saying that even if he were gay, he'd stay, so I don't know what the hell happened.
I see that the Hornell "Evening Tribune" is reporting that Mayor Hogan is passing on the race. I'm surprised at that. But then, after the past week...nothing should surprise a person around here, let alone shock 'em!