The Newt Gingrich-led “Republican Revolution” of 1994 touted “family values” as its #1 concern. Now 15 of those “family values” republicans first elected in the 1994 GOP sweep of Congress have resigned when news of their sex scandals went public. Indiana Republican Mark Souder is the latest, admitting he had an affair with the co-host of his “abstinence-only” TV show. Dana Millbank provides a look back at the fate of the “family values” republicans:
When was it, exactly, that the Republican revolution merged with the sexual revolution?
With each passing year, the class notes for the famous House Republicans Class of ‘94 get more lurid. The latest entry was submitted Tuesday morning by Rep. Mark Souder (Ind.).
“I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff,” he announced in a resignation statement.
And it wasn’t just any part-time staffer, according to sources in Souder’s office. Five months ago, Tracy Jackson was his, er, “co-host” in a video the pair produced for his congressional Web site. The topic: abstinence education.
In his downfall, Souder appears likely to join classmates Mark Foley (lewd text messages to House pages), Mark Sanford (hiking the proverbial Appalachian Trail with his Argentine mistress) and John Ensign (whose parents paid the family of his ex-mistress $96,000) in the sex-scandal hall of fame. Another of their classmates, Bob Ney, did prison time for his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Tags: Abstinence, Family Values, GOP, Republican Party, Sex Scandal
