Top 10 Sex Scandals to Hit the House

Anthony Weiner is far from alone on the list of House bad boys
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 9, 2011 8:13 AM CDT
Anthony Weiner Scandal: Top 10 Sex Scandals of the House
In this Nov. 10, 2008 file photo, former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who was caught sending risque messages to congressional pages.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Anthony Weiner is just the latest and most aptly-named bad boy to fall from grace in Congress's lower chamber: It was only February when Rep. Chris Lee's self portraits and search for hookups on Craigslist led him to join the ranks of the unemployed, and there was a long line of randy reps before that. Politico rounds up the top 10 sex scandals to hit the House:

  • Mark Foley, R-Fla.: Who could forget the congressman's tireless work on behalf of missing and exploited children? Or his relentless pursuit of teenage boys in the House Page Program? Foley's emails to one teen page consisted of banter such as, "Do I make you horny?" or "You in your boxers?"

  • Jon Hinson, R-Miss.: Mississippi elected Hinson in 1978, the year after he was pulled from the rubble of a burned-down gay movie theater. They re-elected him after he exposed himself to an undercover DC cop. But Hinson finally had to resign in 1981 after he was arrested for giving oral sex to a male Library of Congress staffer in a House bathroom.
  • Wilbur Mills, D-Ark.: The married 1972 presidential candidate was stopped by DC cops with a burlesque dancer (who reacted by jumping into the Tidal Basin), and sought to deny their relationship a few months later by ... joining her onstage. He stepped down and sought treatment for alcoholism in short order.
  • Wayne Hays, D-Ohio: Elizabeth Ray, 27, told the Post in 1976 that she couldn't type or answer the phone, but was pulling down $14,000 a year to serve the congressman's more, er, earthy needs. Seems he divorced his wife to marry another staffer, casting her job security into doubt and leading to this priceless exchange: "Do I still have to [screw] you?” she asked. “Well, that never mattered,” Hays said. “Oh,” she said. “I thought it did.”
Click through for the rest of the list. (More political scandal stories.)

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