This may go down in history as the funniest sex scandal in politics.
Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist's "Women Seeking Men" forum, he's Christopher Lee, "divorced" "lobbyist" and "fit fun classy guy."
And when you're done marveling at Lee's clever use of the CIA handbook to pick a pseudonym, check out the picture he sent to an unsuspecting woman who was just looking for proof that "not all CL men look like toads."
Fortunately she wasn't looking for proof that CL men don't look like idiots.
Besides sharing his "very fit fun classy guy" photo with the unidentified woman, Lee exchanged flirtatious emails with her until:
... she cut off contact when she searched for Lee online and concluded he'd lied about his age and occupation. Then she forwarded us [Gawker] the correspondence.
Naturally, Lee's spokesman is claiming that his account was hacked and offered an email Lee allegedly sent to his staff on January 21st, warning them about a "security breach" which, sadly, doesn't explain all of the emails sent the week before. And of course it doesn't explain the shirtless beef tofucake shot of him.
Or as Gawker put it:
The shirtless photo—which, according to metadata contained in the picture, was taken in Washington, D.C.—-was taken with a Blackberry, the same mobile device that Lee uses, which means the hacker would have also accessed the photos on Lee's phone. (And he'd still be the kind of guy who takes cellphone pictures of himself topless.)
In the grand scheme of soliciting men in public bathrooms or paying for hookers to diaper you up, this is nothing. Except funny. And maybe a little sad.
Update: From Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:
A couple of years ago, Republican Rep. Christopher Lee of New York, wrote a piece warning constituents about Internet safety. "[R]esponding to what may seem like a friendly e-mail or an appealing marketing offer can have serious consequences," he said. "Private information and images can so easily be transmitted to friends and strangers alike."
For more discussion, see Adama D Brown's diary.