PHILADELPHIA _ Rep. Pat Meehan of Pennsylvania will not seek re-election amid a furor over his use of taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment claim lodged by an aide, and the national response to his describing the woman as his "soul mate."
"After consultation with my wife Carolyn and with my three sons, and after prayerful reflection, I write to inform you that I will not seek re-election to the United States Congress for the 7th Congressional District in 2018," the Delaware County Republican wrote Thursday in a letter to his campaign chairman. "Today I communicated the same to the office of Speaker Paul Ryan."
The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News obtained a copy of the letter Thursday night.
In it, Meehan, 62, attempts again to explain his actions and comments after a series of interviews Tuesday, including one with the Inquirer, only raised more questions about his conduct.
"Unfortunately, recent events concerning my office and the settlement of certain harassment allegations have become a major distraction," he wrote. "I need to own it because it is my own conduct that fueled the matter."
But he stressed that he has never been unfaithful to his wife, is happily married and that "characterizations of a romantic interest in a co- worker are not only unfair, they are wrong."
Though Meehan described developing an "affection" for the young aide and described her as a soul mate _ a comment which has drawn national ridicule and anger _ he tried to explain the term again in his letter. He said he was only trying to honestly answer "very difficult and probing questions" in order to be accountable to his constituents.
"No characterization of the work relationship I shared with a uniquely close colleague could have been more personally harmful than when I described that co- worker as a 'soul-mate,"' he wrote. "I truly didn't even consider or understand the full implications of the use of that term. Quite simply to me a soul-mate means a uniquely close person who is joined with you on a daily basis, in which you both share the routine successes and strains of a work day."
