US Representative David Wu (吳振偉) faced calls for his resignation on Saturday over a young woman’s reported accusation that she had an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the Democrat three weeks after his election victory in November last year.
Wu’s spokesman, Erik Dorey, said the Taiwan-born, seven-term Democrat had a telephone conversation on Saturday with US House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi about the allegation, which was first reported by the Oregonian newspaper. Dorey would not comment on the substance of the conversation.
An aide to Pelosi declined on Saturday to comment on Wu.
Pressure was building on Wu to publicly address the allegation. There were also calls for his resignation.
“I’m saddened to hear this news. David owes the citizens he represents a detailed explanation,” said Oregon Representative Brad Witt, who is running against Wu in the Democratic primary next spring. “If this accusation proves to be true, it’s time for David Wu to resign and get the help he needs.”
Citing anonymous sources, the Oregonian reported that Wu told senior aides that the sexual encounter in November with the young woman in California was consensual. The paper reported Facebook notes indicate she graduated from high school last year and that she registered to vote in California in August last year.
The paper said the woman -decided not to press charges because there were no witnesses and it would have been her word against Wu’s.
The newspaper said its information came from multiple sources familiar with the allegation.
The Oregonian’s report adds new troubles for a lawmaker who fought accusations of strange and erratic behavior during his re-election campaign last year. Seven members of his re-election campaign quit in January because of behavior that included sending a photo of himself in a tiger costume to a staff member and an angry public speech.
Earlier this year, Wu told reporters that his erratic behavior last year was the culmination of a period of mental health challenges that began in 2008 as marital issues led toward separation from his wife. The couple’s divorce proceedings are ongoing.
In a 2004 re-election bid, Wu -acknowledged a decades-old college incident in which he tried to force an ex-girlfriend to have sex. His opponent in the general election tried to use the report from Wu’s undergraduate days at Stanford in 1976 to show Wu wasn’t fit to serve. Instead of derailing his campaign, the opponent’s tactics were regarded as unseemly and Wu won re-election handily.
Wu and his wife separated in December 2009 for reasons that have not been disclosed. They have two children.
Oregon’s Democratic leaders were reluctant to discuss the latest allegation on Saturday.
The Oregonian quoted sources as saying that a distraught young woman called Wu’s Portland office earlier this year and left a voicemail accusing him of an unwanted sexual encounter in Southern California three weeks after last year’s election.
The paper said the woman is the daughter of a high school friend of Wu’s who has donated to the lawmaker’s campaign.
Wu represents Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, which includes part of Portland and stretches northwest to the Pacific Coast.
Wu was first elected to Congress in 1998. Each election cycle he is a prime target for the Republican Party, but he keeps disproving predictions that he will lose.
He has shown an unpredictable streak that has baffled some fellow Democrats. He sided with House Republicans in 2003 and voted for former US president George W. Bush’s Medicare bill, then drew some attention at home for opposing now-former Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski, a fellow Democrat, who agreed to allow the Warm Springs tribe to build an off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks.
In a speech on the House floor in January 2007, he referred to people in the Bush White House as “Klingons.”
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