McAllister urged to resign by top Republicans
Updated 4:35 p.m ET, 4/10/2014
(CNN) - Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana called Thursday on Rep. Vance McAllister to resign after surveillance video surfaced showing the married Louisiana congressman kissing an aide in his office.
"Congressman McAllister's behavior is an embarrassment and he should resign," he said in a statement. "He says he wants privacy to work on his issues with his family. The best way to get privacy and work on putting his family back together is to resign from Congress."
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Jindal's comment came as the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party also urged the congressman to step down.
And in Washington, House Speaker John Boehner appeared to criticize the congressman's behavior, saying he's spoken to McAllister and the freshman representative "has a decision to make."
"I expect all members to be held to the highest ethical standards and this is no different," said Boehner, R-Ohio, during his weekly news conference.
Soon after Boehner spoke with reporters, Louisiana GOP chair Roger F. Villere, Jr. issued a statement calling on the embattled congressman to step down, citing McAllister's infidelity as an example of a well-worn hypocrisy in politics.
"A breach of trust of this magnitude can only be rectified by an immediate resignation. He has embarrassed our party, our state and the institution of Congress," Villere said.
"A video showing him engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of Congress, on public time, in a public office, with one of his employees, was the focus of the national press for days," Villere said.
In political extramarital affairs, the mistress rarely emerges unscathed
CNN has reached out to McAllister's congressional office for reaction to Villere's statement, but has yet to receive a response.
McAllister represents Louisiana's 5th Congressional District, which is considered a safe seat for the GOP.
On Monday, The Ouachita Citizen in West Monroe, Louisiana, published a surveillance video it says shows McAllister and his scheduler, Melissa Hixon Peacock, passionately kissing in his office last December. The story quickly made national headlines.
McAllister, who is married with five children, issued a statement on Monday saying, "There's no doubt I've fallen short and I'm asking for forgiveness. I'm asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff, and my constituents who elected me to serve."
McAllister was elected in a November special election to fill the vacancy left by GOP Rep. Rodney Alexander's resignation. McAllister campaigned as a Christian conservative - a claim Peacock disputed.
"I know his beliefs. When he ran one of his commercials, he said 'I need your prayers,' and I asked, 'When did you get religious?' He said, 'When I needed votes,'" Peacock recalled. "He broke out the religious card and he's about the most non-religious person I know."
Married congressman 'sorry' after seen kissing staffer in video
McAllister also made headlines earlier this year when he invited "Duck Dynasty" star Willie Robertson to be his guest at the President's State of the Union address.
The husband of the woman caught making out with Rep. Vance McAllister said the Louisiana Republican destroyed his life and marriage.
"I'm just freaking devastated by the whole deal, man. I loved my wife so much. I cannot believe this. I cannot freaking believe it. I feel like I'm going to wake up here in a minute and this is all going to be a bad nightmare," Heath Peacock told CNN Tuesday.
Heath Peacock said he didn't know about the episode until Melissa called him a couple hours before the news broke.
"It was just a kiss, that was all it was, but it embarrassed me and my family," Heath Peacock added. "This guy has turned my life upside down."
"He has wrecked my life," Peacock, 34, said of McAllister. "We're headed for divorce."
Peacock noted that McAllister's "apologized to everyone in the world except me."
Heath and Melissa Peacock have been married for six years and have a 6-year-old son. Melissa Peacock no longer works for McAllister, Heath Peacock said.
CNN's Chis Frates, Curt Devine, Deirdre Walsh, Lisa Desjardins, Steve Brusk, Dana Davidsen, Paul Steinhauser, and Peter Hamby contributed to this report.
Ask Rush, before making any serious moves. He seems to believe he has the right to make comment on all other issues.
McAllister should resign!
He will be gone soon.
I feel for Mr. Peacock in all of this. To learn of this and have it all over the news. I'm please to hear how phony the congressman is as a $3 bill.
Its nice to see the GOP finally letting people know what they do stand for. I think sometimes they have worked so hard to stop Obamacare and stop any of Obama's agenda that, as many fellow Republicans within their own circle have stated, mention what it is they stand for. I don't know if it was just a peck or if it was a kiss kiss. Obviously if it was a serious kiss then I can understand the fallout. There is no excuse for cheating on your spouse. There is no excuse for betraying your spouse. If there is one person in the entire world your suppose to be able to lean on is your spouse. That's why you get married. And its nice to see the GOP still considers marriage sacred as anyone with any real sense of ethics should. It sounds like the kiss was far more then a peck, and its "right" for the other GOP members to ask the congressmen to step down. After all if you can't honor your marriage vows, and by cheating, since it takes two to tango, break another couples marriage vows. How can anyone believe you possess any honor, ethics, or even believe your word? If you seduce or lure someone else spouse it's even worse. The fact you know the other party is married, and you seduce/lure them to betray their spouse, then you really are a dirt bag.
This may come as a big surprise to many but the human species is designed to reproduce. You can push your religion and so-called moral attitudes but the fact remains that man is suppose to procreate. Now this may come as a surprise to the gay community but le'ts hear how mankind would exist if reproduction would stop. Let the comments begin.
Who cares. This happens EVERY DAY! Get a divorce, move on.
Wow, that's a shock! I'd have thought the family values party would have given him a standing ovation like tgey did David Vitter.
At least the re pubs HAVE a sense of standards
no one told Wiener, et al to resign.
Reid and Peloscum should resign on general ppls!
The nation wonders if this McAllister is related to the same Billy Joe McCallister who jumped off the Tallahassee Bridge some years ago and was immortalized in a popular song at the time. As the song said, "Billy Joe didn't have a lick of sense."
Obviously, neither does Congressman McAllister. By the way, the Tallahassee Bridge is still standing if the Congressman wants to pay a visit there soon.
The only thing he and she have not quite been caught at is having actual sexual intercourse.... Should he resign? I think that's up to our religious Georgian electorate, since it seems in American politics that marital infidelity does not mean you cannot get re-elected.... that said I am quite sure her husband will divorce her ( I hope he follows thru) and His wife with 5 kids needs her Ex hubby to have well paid job so she can get the right amount of alimony to take care of them.
Regards,
hodgson
He ran as a conservative and showed that it was a fraud. He has wrecked 2 families, and adversely effected 6 kids. Resigning should be the first good decision he needs to make. If not, he makes religion a joke.
Republican ethics will tell him to just say "God" and everything will be just fine. Heck, he could have left his post, skipped off to South America to meet up with some hottie and republican voters will forgive him and elect him to office. Republicans are just bad people.
When is David Vitter going to call for McAllister's resignation as well?
Hate to burst your bubble Heath, but I strongly doubt it was "Just a kiss"! I think there was a lot more going on and thats just what the camera caught.