The story via Hotline on call:
Scandal-plagued Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., announced Tuesday he is resigning in the wake of a report that he had an unwanted sexual encounter with a teenage girl.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be a United States Congressman. Rare is the nation in which an immigrant child can become a national political figure. I thank God and my parents for the privilege of being an American,” Wu said in a statement.
“Now, however, the time has come to hand on the privilege of high office. I cannot care for my family the way I wish while serving in Congress and fighting these very serious allegations.
But Wu added he will remain in office through the ongoing debt limit negotiations.
“The wellbeing of my children must come before anything else. With great sadness, I therefore intend to resign effective upon the resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis,” said Wu. “This is the right decision for my family, the institution of the House, and my colleagues. It is also the only correct decision to avoid any distraction from the important work at hand in Washington.
Wu’s announcement comes after he spent the weekend insisting he would not step down but conceding he wouldn’t run for reelection in 2012. However, Democratic leaders had stepped up pressure on the congressman to resign, hoping to avoid another embarrassing sex scandal.
The Portland Oregonian notes that Wu’s resignation announcement came shortly after the state’s two Democratic senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, released a joint statement calling on Wu to step down.
“This is a critical time for our state and our nation and Oregonians need every member of their Congressional delegation to be effective,” the two said. “While no one takes pleasure in asking a colleague to resign, we believe he can no longer be an effective representative for our shared constituents and should, in the best interest of Oregon, step down.”
Wu, first elected in 1998, was the first Chinese-American to serve in the House.
Ed Morrissey quips:
Why bother? A debt-ceiling vote in the House is not likely to be a close-run affair regardless of which version gets a floor vote. There is an outside chance that a single vote could carry the day, but it’s exceedingly small. By the same reasoning, Wu could argue that bailing out on his district will prevent those voters from having representation on another several months of critical votes, some of which may be close than the vote will be on this issue.
This is apparently the outcome most desired by House Democratic leadership, but it’s hard to understand why. Wu’s district (OR-01) is a safe Democratic hold in regular elections, with a D+8 advantage in the Cook index. It’s not even clear that Wu would have lost a re-election bid in 2012, but even a non-incumbent Democrat should have held that seat with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket. Now Oregon will have to call a special election to fill out the remainder of Wu’s term, and a Republican could take advantage of the oddities of special-election turnouts to grab the seat. It’s not likely to happen, but the odds are better than in the next election.
Typical of the Dems… anyhow, here’s what I think of, when I hear his name:
Wait!…..is that…..RAAAAACIST? 😯