Under Fire for Harassment, Congressman Says Aide ‘Invited’ Behavior
Mr. Meehan expressed confidence that he would be cleared, declaring, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He declined to specify the amount of the payment to his former aide, and also disputed
that it was a settlement, instead calling it “a severance agreement with a valued employee who I felt a great deal of not only respect for, but concern for, and believed that that was a way to reward the work that she had done for me.”
But John Elizandro, Mr. Meehan’s spokesman, called the payment a “settlement” and said
that Mr. Meehan “is prepared to repay the taxpayers for the amount of the settlement,” but only “if found to be guilty” of the allegations by the House Ethics Committee.
Val DiGiorgio, the chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, issued a statement on Monday saying
that the party was “troubled” by the allegations and that they “must be treated seriously and fully investigated.”
In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier Tuesday, Mr. Meehan said he told the aide
that last year he “was struggling” to keep his feelings from interfering with his position as her superior, and told the newspaper that he had exchanged a hug with her that lasted “maybe longer that night than needed to be.”
Mr. Meehan supplied the newspaper with a copy of the handwritten letter he wrote to the aide last May, after he said he reacted “selfishly” when he learned
that she had a serious boyfriend close to her own age.
