Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy told local media sources that interviews will be conducted on Sunday in Batavia to pick a replacement for Chris Lee, who resigned from his seat in the 26th Congressional District after a shirtless photograph of him surfaced in the media.
Lee, 46 and married with one child, allegedly sent flirtatious e-mails and a shirtless photograph of himself to a woman whom he met on the popular website Craigslist. Lee allegedly replied to a post by Yesha Callahan, 34, in the "Women Seeking Men" section.
"I assumed that other people have probably come across him as well, and he had lied to them," Callahan said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I felt annoyance at just the audacity of people thinking that they're not going to get found out when they are lying."
The statement was released after Lee allegedly lied to Callahan about his age, occupation, and marital status during their online correspondence. He allegedly told Callahan that he was a 36-year-old divorced lobbyist.
Within hours of the e-mail conversation and the photograph being released on Gawker's website, Lee resigned from the House of Representatives after two terms. His resignation was abrupt, and reports reveal that Western New Yorkers heard about the resignation before the scandal.
Not once during his resignation did Lee admit either guilt or innocence. Lee made a statement in the House Chamber last Wednesday and posted it on his website.
"It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York," Lee said in a statement. "I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness."
During Lee's two-year term, his constituency stretched from his district office in Williamsville, N.Y. to Rochester, N.Y. While in office, Lee served on the House Committee on Financial Services.
"The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately," Lee said in his released statement.
UB students reacted to his resignation and Craigslist ad with disappointment and a bit of suspicion.
"The people representing our country are held at a higher standard because they are supposed to be representative of us and focused on their job," said Kelly Barrett, a senior communication major. "There is a moral standard that should come with being a representative of a body of people. You should conduct yourself professionally, and people worry that politicians that act this way are too distracted to do their jobs properly."
Others speculated about how the scandal will affect Lee's future political career.
"I think that this type of sex scandal is not career-ending, as Bill Clinton demonstrated, but neither is a failing economy or two wars gone awry under [George W.] Bush," said Jordan Ghasemi, a senior political science major. "If you are perceived as having good economic impact, and your base is not of the devout religious persuasion, I don't see why this should be the end. However, I do feel that political leaders should set moral examples for the rest of us. If they lie to their spouses, how can we trust them?"
Dr. James Campbell, chair of the department of political science, explained that Lee's decision is partly political and partly personal, but agrees with House Speaker John Boehner that Lee made the right decision to resign.
"My sense, though, is that there were significant personal background strains and history that made the resignation the right thing to do," Campbell said. "In terms of the politics, it would have been a rough year or so, but I think he could have survived, if this was all that was to the scandal. The photograph made this rougher than it might have been otherwise. This made the sleazy aspect of this all too blatant for the public and the media."
The abrupt resignation leaves an open House seat, which many people believe will remain with Republicans. However, Erie County Chairman Len Lenihan reported that Democrats plan on fighting for the seat. According to the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, until the seat is occupied, the "vacant Congressional office cannot take or advocate positions of public policy."
There has been speculation as to who will run for office, and some have argued that any candidate should be required to have the financial means to back his own campaign. Campbell weighed in on rumors of both Republican and Democratic candidates fighting for the open seat.
"The speculation is that the Democrats will nominate Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, and that Republicans will nominate Assemblywoman Jane Corwin of Clarence, but there are a number of others mentioned on both sides," Campbell said. "The district is likely to stay Republican, but open-seat elections are usually very competitive."
According to Campbell, a Democrat has not been elected in several years. He foresees the national parties spending a lot of money on the special election.
"The final note is that the district may be chopped up in the next two years because of reapportionment," Campbell said. "New York State will lose a couple of districts because of its population count in the last census."
A special election to fill Lee's seat will be scheduled after it is declared vacant by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
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