Disgraced Congressman Eric Massa Tells His Side of Sexual Harassment Scandal

Former New York Democratic Congressman Eric Massa, who resigned amidst allegations of sexual harassment directed at his aides, told his side of the story in an interview with Esquire Magazine.

The interview, which was published on May 24, revealed that Massa had twice attempted suicide since the scandal broke, and depicted a man stunned and confused by the allegations that were leveled at him--including claims from former Naval shipmates that he had touched them inappropriately. Massa served in the Navy for two dozen years; it was to that earlier career that Massa pointed when the allegations were first made, saying that he spoke like a sailor and suggesting that the staffer who allegedly had been harassed was simply unused to the "salty language" he'd heard while working for Massa.

But as more details emerged, they began to form a portrait of a man who for years had skirted the edge of propriety, if not gone beyond it: when asked on Larry King Live if he were gay, Massa issued the invitation to "Ask the ten thousand men I served with in the Navy" about his sexual orientation. Then those same fellow officers began to come forward to say that Massa had touched them inappropriately.

Blogger Bob Lonsberry, in a March 10 column, recounted having heard several years ago from a former Naval shipmate about alleged episodes of inappropriate conduct involving Massa.

Lonsberry wrote that the current media accounts had left him feeling "Guilty because, though I knew almost four years ago of Eric Massa's alleged penchant for sexually assaulting younger and subordinate males, I said nothing about it. Thinking I was doing the better thing, I didn't report what I knew. I didn't stop him. Which makes me partially responsible for his new victims."

Lonsberry said that the former shipmate had claimed that Massa had made advances toward at least two other Naval officers, both of inferior rank. "That was incendiary information and I sought to verify it," Lonsberry wrote. "I was not able to contact the alleged victims. But I did find two more former Navy officers who had served with Massa and remembered hearing about the incidents, though they did not have any first-hand information."

Because the allegations referred to actions that had purportedly taken place fifteen years earlier, and because no formal complaints had been made, Lonsberry declined to publish a story about what he'd heard. "So I was silent about Massa. I argued against his politics, I wrote about a court case he was involved in. But I didn't write about his alleged sexual aggression and abuse.

"I considered it from the standpoint of journalism," Lonsberry continued, "and I considered it from the standpoint of politics and personal considerations. But I didn't think about future victims." Added Lonsberry, "And unwittingly I protected Massa instead of protecting them. And I knew better."

Those allegations also resurfaced in a March 10 article at The Atlantic. The article said that former Massa shipmate Peter Clarke had claimed that Massa had made suggestive comments while massaging Clarke's friend, Stuart Borsch, when Massa and Borsch shared a hotel room while on leave in the early 1990s. Another source, Borsch's roommate, Ron Moss, also confirmed this.

The article also cited Borsch as saying that on one occasion, in 1990, Massa groped Borsch as he slept in his bunk aboard the ship. "I believe he may have been drinking," Borsch recounted. "I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it."

Furthermore, the article said, according to Clarke, Massa groped his own roommate, Tom Maxfield, also when Maxfield was sleeping in his bunk. "He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him."

Media reports claimed that Massa's own staff had inklings that the congressman was acting inappropriately toward his male staffers a year before the alleged misconduct was reported to Congressional Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who promptly informed the House ethics committee, initiating an investigation into Massa.

Early reports of Massa's behavior seem to have stayed within the ranks of Massa's staff, with junior staff taking their concerns to Massa's chief of staff, Joe Racalto, who also claimed to have been a target for the Congressman's purportedly predatory conduct. Racalto also claimed that there had been multiple instances when he sought to intervene and shield junior staffers from Massa.

Racalto's lawyer, Camilla C. McKinney, issued a statement in which she declared, "When Mr. Racalto did witness something or hear a complaint concerning inappropriate conduct, Mr. Racalto made every effort to curtail the Congressman's behavior by directly addressing each issue with the congressman."

Early Warnings?

In one memo sent to staffers before the scandal broke, Racalto wrote, "It has been brought to my attention that casual conversations of a sexual nature are ongoing. This is highly inappropriate, offensive, and against the law." The memo continued, "I want to invite all staff to immediately contact me if you are aware of any inappropriate conversations that are taking place." Though junior staffers were reportedly assured that Massa's conduct would be reigned in, the alleged harassment only continued to worsen, media stories said. Racalto went so far as to prevent Massa from taking male interns with him on overnight trips.

Finally, after Massa's conduct spilled over to the outside world--with Massa reportedly having invited a male bartender out to dinner, leading to a blog posting that accused Massa of sexual impropriety--Racalto and his then-deputy chief of staff, Ron Hikel, went to Hoyer.

However, the media also reported on Racalto receiving a payment of $40,000 from the former congressman's campaign, a transaction that took place a day before Massa's March 5 resignation from the House. Shortly after that story was published, Racalto filed his claim against Massa--but Massa said that he did not authorize that payout. Nor, Massa claimed, did he approve a pay raise for Racalto; indeed, Massa intimated that his name had been forged on documents needed for Racalto's pay raise.

Attorney Camilla C. McKinney, who represents Racalto, denied that there was anything improper about Racalto's pay hike or the money he received just before Massa left office, saying, "The former congressman is trying to discredit someone who is making a sexual harassment complaint against him." Racalto's camp insists that the payout he received was money owed him for campaign work between election cycles.

The Esquire article, written by Ryan D'Agostino, recounts that just before being faced with accusations of sexual harassment, Massa had announced that he would be stepping down from office, citing his battle with cancer as the reason. Once the allegations surfaced, however, Massa claimed that he was being punished for having opposed President Obama's plan for health care reform, a claim that came complete with a story about White House spokesperson Rahm Emanuel dressing Massa down in a gym locker room while both men were stark naked. Massa's depiction of himself as a victim of the scheming Left briefly made him a darling to certain elements in the Right-wing media, such as Glenn Beck, who interviewed Massa on his program.

Massa's counterclaim seemed to evaporate with little notice, however, as fresh allegations continued to emerge. By the time of his interview with Esquire, which took place in March, Massa was reduced, the article said, to "a disgrace in moccasins". However, the article said, several months earlier, Massa had approached the publication with a bombshell allegation of his own about a plot involving former Vice President Dick Cheney attempting to recruit Gen. David Petraeus to run in 2012 against Barack Obama--a scenario that Massa said would constitute "treason" and a "coup d'etat." Massa also claimed that he threatened the Pentagon that he would go public with the allegation, which he claimed he first learned of through highly placed military officials.

But D'Agostino also wrote that during that meeting, in January, he had made the remark to D'Agostino, "What are you, seventeen?... You better watch yourself around gay bars, my friend. It could get interesting."

At one point in the Esquire interview, Massa indicated how appearances could be turned against someone in his position. He described a situation in which his chief of staff, Racalto, informed Massa of the death, in Afghanistan, of a young Marine whom Massa had known. Overcome by grief, Massa wept in Racalto's arms. It was at that moment that Hikel entered Massa's office, Massa recounted, going on to say, "Ron turned right around and walked out and two days later said, 'I'm sure glad there weren't any cameras around to see that.' I didn't even--it didn't click at the time," Massa continued. "Why would you care if there are cameras? Because he was a freaking homophobe."

The article noted that it was at the funeral for that same young Marine that the Massa allegedly asked the bartender out to dinner.

Amidst his plaintive comments to Esquire about the allegations, and references to his battle with cancer, Massa told the magazine's reporter, D'Agostino, "I got people on the Right wanting me to run for Senate, I got people on the Left want to burn me in hell, I got people in the White House trying to convince everybody that I'm a gay rapist going after dogs... I mean, what?"