Recast

Eric Massa isn't gay. Just ask his wife and friends. And "ask the 10,000 sailors I served with in the Navy," Massa tells Larry King. King didn't have to pick up a phone to find them. A few of Massa's former fellow sailors contacted The Atlantic. Peter Clark told the magazine's blog all about unwanted "Massa massages." Tom Maxfield claimed he was nearly snorkeled by Massa, a naughty nautical term that is roughly the equivalent of tea bagging. Massa, the New York congressman who resigned after allegedly groping staffers, claiming he was the target of a plot by fellow Democrats angered that he is opposed to health care reform, is a dream boat for Republicans hoping to recapture seats, and maybe the majority, in elections come November. Call it payback for 2006 when the GOP was hit hard as one of their own, Congressman Mark Foley of Florida, stepped down amid allegations that he made lewd suggestions to young pages.

Back then, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other top Republicans were chided for failing to act on early reports of Foley's inappropriate behavior.

Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is facing similar criticisms that cronyism trumps doing the right thing. The key now, amid calls for an ethics investigation, is answering the question, "Who knew what and when?"

After the House overwhelmingly voted today to refer a Massa probe to the Ethics Committee, House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio issued a statement sure to sting Democrats: "Speaker Pelosi once promised the American people 'the most open and ethical' Congress in history, but she has broken that promise. Yesterday, the House Ethics committee ended an investigation of former-Rep. Eric Massa. A few hours later, the Speaker revealed that her staff had reports of his troubling behavior months ago, but apparently failed to act. As the Ethics Committee made clear when it admonished former Chairman Rangel last week, Members of the House are responsible for the actions of their staff. The clear standards established after 2006 – with the Speaker's strong support – demand this investigation. The American people deserve to know the truth."

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Recast is a regular feature for dscriber.com by Liza Donnelly, a contract cartoonist with The New Yorker magazine. Some of the drawings in this series are cartoons the magazine decided not to publish or ones that Donnelly simply did for her own pleasure. She is internationally recognized for her work forCartooning for Peace and she lectures on cartoons, the art of cartooning, and feminism. Donnelly's new book, "Laugh Lines," will be published this year. Her website is lizadonnelly.com/Story by Michael de Yoanna

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