Defiant Wu will not resign

David Wu won't resign; Nancy Pelosi seeks probe

By JOHN BRESNAHAN & JONATHAN ALLEN | 7/24/11 10:14 PM EDT


Embattled Rep. David Wu will not seek reelection in 2012, but he won’t resign from office now despite allegations that the Oregon Democrat had an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a close friend last Thanksgiving.

“He isn’t going to be running for reelection,” a Wu adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told POLITICO late Sunday night. “But he hasn’t done anything that rises to the level of requiring him to resign.”

With a defiant Wu staying put, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the Ethics Committee to investigate the explosive allegations against him.

“I call on the Ethics Committee to initiate an investigation into the allegations against Congressman Wu,” Pelosi said in a statement released after Wu’s decision to stay put. “With deep disappointment and sadness about this situation, I hope that the Ethics Committee will take up this matter.”

Pelosi said she would send a letter to the Ethics Committee on Monday “asking them to formally initiate a review of this matter.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel of New York joined Pelosi in called for the Ethics Committee probe of the 56-year-old Wu.

“New allegations of unacceptable behavior by Congressman Wu are extremely serious and disturbing. I strongly agree with Leader Pelosi’s request that the House Ethics Committee use its authority to begin an immediate investigation,” Israel said in his own statement.

The Ethics Committee - which can subpoena Wu, his staffers and any materials in his possession, including a voice-mail message reportedly left by the teenager - cannot charge him with a crime, but the panel can make a criminal referral to the Justice Department if it turns up evidence of illegal behavior.

Pelosi, Israel and other top Democrats spoke to Wu several times over the weekend, with at least some of those party leaders urging to step down.

Democratic insiders said Pelosi and her top lieutenants have made it clear to Wu “that he has no support” from his colleagues or party leaders and that they would like to see him leave the House as soon as possible. Coming so soon after the embarrassing episode that led to the resignation of Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York last month, the last thing Democrats need is another sex scandal on their plate as they try to solve the nation’s debt0ceiling crisis.

Wu, however, has also heard from some Democrats who have told him that retiring in 2012, rather than resigning now, is sufficient to deal with the situation, if no criminal charges are brought against him, Democratic sources said.

Back home in Portland, Ore., local politicians from both sides of the aisle have already demanded Wu give up the House seat he’s held for the past seven terms.

Wu and his staff have not commented on the troubling allegations since issuing a short statement Friday, when the news first broke in The Oregonian. The newspaper reported that Wu “acknowledged a sexual encounter to his senior aides but insisted it was consensual,” according to sources aware of the incident.

The woman left a “distraught” voice-mail at Wu’s congressional office in Portland, a message heard by some of Wu’s staffers. The woman “accused Wu of aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior,” The Oregonian reported. A Democratic insider familiar with the call said the claims against Wu “were disgusting and appalling.”

Wu has not commented on the incident beyond issuing a one-sentence statement Friday: “This is very serious, and I have absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention or stress to a young woman and her family.”

The teenager and her family have not filed a criminal complaint against the longtime lawmaker, but the incident, the second accusation of inappropriate sexual behavior by Wu, is “extremely troubling” to Pelosi and other Democrats, said party insiders.

Wu has disappeared from public view over the past weekend. He’s believed to be holed up in his congressional office or residence on Capitol Hill, although even Democratic leaders have had a hard time tracking him down.

Wu, the first Chinese-American to serve in Congress, was elected to the House in 1998. He was born in Taiwan in 1955 and came to the United States when he was 6 years old. He graduated from Stanford, then briefly went to Harvard Medical School before switching to Yale, where he obtained a law degree. After clerking for a federal judge in Portland, he decided to make it his home. He opened a law firm and served on the city’s planning commission.

Wu was accused of attempted rape in 1976 by a former girlfriend, although no criminal charges were filed. Wu was attending Stanford at the time. He was ordered to receive counseling and was disciplined by the university, and he privately apologized to the woman. The allegations became public shortly before the 2004 elections.

“As a 21-year-old, I hurt someone I cared very much about. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I am very sorry,” Wu said in a statement to The Oregonian. “This single event forever changed my life and the person that I have become.”

Before last November’s elections, Wu began behaving erratically, including sending a picture of himself in a tiger costume to his staffers. More than a half-dozen aides and campaign consultants quit as Wu bombarded them with troubling phone calls and emails. Wu’s remaining staffers canceled all campaign events, relying on TV ads to win his race.

After news reports of his odd behavior appeared in February and March, Wu began treatment for an unspecified mental health condition. Wu admitted that he “was not always at my best with staff or constituents” during the midterm campaign.

Even before The Oregonian story broke Friday, Democrats were already buzzing about more offbeat behavior by Wu. He accused congressional staffers of pilfering a lighter and demanded to be let onto the floor during the House’s opening prayer — a no-no — Democratic insiders said. Wu’s office declined to comment on that matter.

The new charges against Wu are just the latest in series of sex scandals to rock Capitol Hill during the past two years.

Weiner, a New York Democrat, resigned from Congress just weeks ago following a national firestorm over lewd photos he sent to women he met over the Internet.

Former Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) was caught sending a topless online photo and also resigned. Former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) had an affair with one of his campaign aides, who also happened to be the wife of his deputy chief of staff. Ensign stepped down May 3.

And former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) quickly departed Capitol Hill in March 2010 after POLITICO reported he was under investigation by the Ethics Committee over allegations he sexually harassed male staffers. The Ethics Committee recently announced it will continue looking into whether any Democratic lawmakers or staffers knew about those allegations but declined to take action against Massa.