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Today's Poll: Do you think Chris Lee should have resigned?

By Howard B. Owens
jason reese

He didn't commit a felony. He may have made a bad choice or hurt his family. Or misrepresented himself on craigslist, none are illegal. Sounds like the old guilty conciseness syndrome. And he was a Republican.

Feb 10, 2011, 7:56am Permalink
Bob Harker

He did the right thing after doing the wrong thing. This is not being dragged out like Massa.

I believe he served us well for the short time he was there.

It is now time to pressure Cuomo to not play politics like Patterson did and call for the special election in a prompt manner. Ideally, due to we in the area being under represented in the interim, we should be exempt from all federal taxes.

Yeah, right.

Feb 10, 2011, 8:22am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Chris Lee resigned. One can second-guess the decision and pretend the decision-making process, but only he knows the gory details. I'm sure keeping those details off the front page is a prime motivator. ...And avoiding humiliation- the whole Craig's List thing. (Didn't he have Charlie Sheen's number?)

Feb 10, 2011, 9:54am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Yes, Bea, Carl Paladino possesses the hubris necessary to win the seat held by (too sexy for his shirt) Lee, (too busy raising money) Reynolds and (too busy sucking-up) Paxon (27th prior to redistricting).

Feb 10, 2011, 10:05am Permalink
John Roach

Bea,
He should have resigned and I am glad he did. But who did worse, Lee or Clinton? Do you hold Lee to the same standard as Clinton? Or Patterson for that matter?

Feb 10, 2011, 10:15am Permalink
Peter O'Brien

"we should be exempt from all federal taxes."

Tell that to DC

"On what basis do you "believe he served us well"? Please give specific examples?"

Voted against federal funding of abortions
Voted to keep the current tax code instead of allowing taxes to automatically be increased.
Voted against changing the estate tax.
Voted to not hand out free money to SS reciepients
Voted against repel of Don't Ask Don't Tell
Voted against Hate (read Thought) Crimes Extension
Voted for Censure of Chuckie Rangle.
Tried to force a budget by voting against continuing appropriations.
Voted against the DREAM act.
Voted not to give a bailout to people who took on mortgages they couldn't afford.
Voted against having a time table (read planned retreat) for leaving Afghanistan.

Feb 10, 2011, 10:51am Permalink
Peter O'Brien

For the record I voted no opinion. Many politicians lie regardless of how they treat their spouse, so that argument to me has no merit. Lee represented the area well based on the majority of opinions people hold in his region. (Not their opinions of him, their political ideals)

To me this is a personal matter now that he has stepped down and should be left to him and his family.

Feb 10, 2011, 11:54am Permalink
Dave Olsen

C'mon Peter, Mark and John. Chris Lee was an empty suit who just did what the GOP told him to; Pretty boy, made his money off Daddy's business, empty suit corporate MBA d-bag. If he actually had to survive on his own in the workplace, he'd be a middle manager at best. Good riddance, don't let the door hit ya, buddy. For the record, I voted no opinion, I don't care if he chases women.

Feb 10, 2011, 12:14pm Permalink
Peter O'Brien

Lorie,
That act isn't needed in the modern workplace.

"Say a woman was hired five, 10 or 15 years ago at a discriminatory pay level. She worked just as hard as her male colleagues, but received paltry raises or bonuses. But then her company underwent some sort of restructuring—a change of ownership, a new board, a new supervisor. Since then, the company has treated all employees the same, giving raises and bonuses where merited. The woman is a good worker and now her salary rises by 8- or 10-percent a year, well above many of her male colleagues. The company should be exempt from any possible lawsuit, right?

Maybe not. That's because a wily trial lawyer could well sell the argument that, no matter how generous the woman's recent raises, they were all applied to what was fundamentally a discriminatory salary baseline. What's more, as the Heritage Foundation points out:

This new rule is also broader in that it would apply to any (alleged) discrimination that has had an (alleged) effect on pay, such as an adverse promotion decision. In addition, retirees could bring suits alleging pay-related discrimination that occurred decades ago if they are presently receiving benefits, such as pensions or health care, arguably effected [sic] by the long-ago discrimination.

In other words, virtually any woman who receives a pension from or is still employed by a company that existed during the dark days of discrimination could now sue, regardless of that company's current practices. Punishing good, conscientious owners and unwitting shareholders for the sins of others long gone hardly seems appropriate. By all means active discrimination must be stopped, and the government has a role in helping achieve that. But societies grow and attitudes change, and some slights from the distant past simply have no remedy."

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/sam-dealey/2009/1/28/ledbetter-law-…

Feb 10, 2011, 1:13pm Permalink
Bea McManis

A philanderer by any other name is still a philanderer.
Regardless of affiliation, if you are in the public eye, then your actions are scrutinized. You are held to a higher standard.

Feb 10, 2011, 1:13pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

John, while I admittedly don't know his motivation, it could be argued that since he lives in Clarence Center, it was politically a good idea to push for. It is a very emotional issue in Clarence Center. Granted, he may truly care about commuter flight safety. We'll never know

Feb 10, 2011, 1:23pm Permalink
George Richardson

I would feel sorry for y'all but here in Texass (sic)we have Goobernator Perrywinkle (sick) to deal with for most of four more years. At least I have the best Congressman in the United States, Lloyd Doggett. I tried kidding around with him once about some political stuff and he totally ignored me, no body language clues other than he was not going to harm himself. I love the guy, he's totally straight laced uptight and he's a wonderfully liberal thinker who votes the way most of his constituents want. He's #1 to me, I wish he would follow Obama as President in 2016. I know he would have one vote for sure.

Feb 10, 2011, 2:12pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

George, Texas does have the best congressman in the country. Ron Paul, the only one out of 537, (congress, senate, Pres & VP) who understands what he's supposed to be doing.

Feb 10, 2011, 2:26pm Permalink
George Richardson

I like old Ron, he's been a weirdo for thirty five years (at least) and used to represent me when I lived in Brazoria County. His son is just a snooty Kentucky twerp, from what I can tell, who is riding on his daddy's coattails. Like them silly Bush boys.

Feb 10, 2011, 3:11pm Permalink
George Richardson

Peter, Conservative Stinker is a definition. There I go hating the people I love again. It's tough love hate love hate love hate, just like marriage and kids.

Feb 10, 2011, 3:14pm Permalink
Janice Stenman

Dave said: Chris Lee was an empty suit who just did what the GOP told him to; Pretty boy, made his money off Daddy's business, empty suit corporate MBA d-bag. If he actually had to survive on his own in the workplace, he'd be a middle manager at best. Good riddance, don't let the door hit ya, buddy.

I agree Dave. Also, I looked up his voting record. He voted with his party 95% of the time. Supposedly Boehner pressured him to resign and as a good little R party boy, he did what he was told.

In addition, I wrote to him several times about various issues and never got anything but a form letter in return.

His on line polls were a joke. They were worded in such a way that honest opinions couldn't have a voice.

Feb 10, 2011, 4:04pm Permalink
Chris Charvella

George, the water's lukewarm at best.

Janice, voting the party line 95% of the time is considered moderate in the current political climate :)

Feb 10, 2011, 4:14pm Permalink
Tim Howe

Posted by Bea McManis on February 10, 2011 - 1:13pm
A philanderer by any other name is still a philanderer.
Regardless of affiliation, if you are in the public eye, then your actions are scrutinized. You are held to a higher standard.

I never thought i would be uttering these words, but....Right on Bea!!! :)

I really liked this guy for ALL the reasons that Peter listed above (and a couple more too) but my respect for him ended around 5pm yesterday :(

245 No's to the poll??? Thats right around 245 too many.

Feb 10, 2011, 4:17pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

Chris Lee exhibited two major flaws I don't want in my representative in Washington. Lack of character (flippant treatment of his marriage vows), and lack of judgement (doing so on the internet). I don't separate the public official from private bad choices when they are found out. Is it so unreasonable to expect our representatives to tow the line in their personal lives as well as in their voting records? There are plenty of people out there who would represent us well in Washington while acting appropriately at home. Let's just hope they step up and run.

Feb 10, 2011, 4:33pm Permalink
Jeremiah Pedro

Janice,

I had the same experience with e-mails to Mr. Lee's office. I got a form letter once, the next time I sent an e-mail I asked that I receive a non-from letter response. I never received a response to that letter. That letter was about Veteran benefits, something Mr. Lee said was important to him. Obviously hooking up with other women not his wife was a lil more important to him.

Feb 10, 2011, 5:09pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

I know it is a pattern with most politicians, but after receiving one too many form letters from Lee's office, I finally wrote and said please do not send me another automated response. Two days later his legislative director called me from Washington. We talked for about 20 minutes and one of the things that irked me the most was her saying that currently legislators have so many bills to read each year they can't possibly read all of them. Now I know why, it takes time to troll on Craigslist.

Feb 10, 2011, 6:19pm Permalink
Michele Case

C.M. you made me LOL when I read your comment regarding(too sexy for his shirt) Lee! Guess he was trying to bring sexy back. Kick it to the chorus...

Feb 10, 2011, 6:50pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

Well, Chris Charvella you can hardly expect an elitist, statist, status quo loving government mouth piece such as The Washington Post to give Ron Paul a fair shake. Here's a couple other takes on the same hearing, in the interest of fairness:

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/ron-paul-doesn%27t-want-to-violent…,^dji,^gspc&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/banksters-play-defense/2962

And I should temper my disparaging comment about all 537 elected officials other than Ron to be not doing their jobs. Since quite a few have only been on the job for a little over a month, like Rand Paul. I'll give them a chance.

Feb 11, 2011, 12:00am Permalink

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