IS PENNSYLVANIA HEFTY RIGHT WING CONGRESSMAN A SEXUAL PREDATOR-- A GAY ONE?

I've written a bit about Rep. Phil English here at DWT in the past. And no matter who you ask in DC (or back in Erie) one thing you learn is that you do not want to get between this man and a ham-and-cheese sandwich. But that's old news. Actually the tale I'm about to impart is old news too-- old news that never quite saw the light of day. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Today I was cleaning up some of the old comments and I came across 3 I had never seen, all on the Phil English link above. With a little amateur sleuthing I traced one to a local Erie, PA blog called Erie Rant.

The latest rash of alleged pedophile scandals of those holding respected positions in Erie County is beginning to cast doubts on current congressman Phil English. There are reports that English was arrested by Erie County Police while serving as Erie County Comptroller while Louis Tullio was Mayor. Sources report that officers reported to Tullio that Phil English was caught soliciting a black male youth for sex a late summer evening near Buffalo Road.

Apparently Mayor Tullio did not want the scandal to effect him. So he had the officers release English with the understanding that he would leave town never to return. Is this the real reason Phil English ran for state treasurer in 88 after serving as Erie County Comptroller? Was English only able to return home after the death Mayor Tullio. If this story is true did this secret die with Mayor Tullio?

I spoke to an old political expert and friend in Sharon, PA, right across the stateline from Youngstown and part of English's northwest Pennsylvania district. What she told me was pretty shocking. The highly unpopular Congressman English, often called "Jabba" or "Congressman Glutton," has had some pretty freaky rumors circulating about him for many years. Although my friend said she had no first hand knowledge of English's much whispered-about dalliance with a young male prostitute in Harrisburg (something that I found was mentioned in the Wayne Madsen Report), she knew quite a lot about the married congressman's uncontrollable urges for young males. She says that he was arrested quite a few years-- and many pounds-- ago in flagrante delicto. His victim was an underage African-American boy and he was hauled to Mayor Tullio's home in the wee hours of the night, in handcuffs. They mayor, a virtual feudal baron for 2 decades in the area, made him swear to never run for office again and to get out of town in return for the incident to be disappeared.

I have no way of knowing for sure whether or not AmericaBlog was referring to English in a short, sweet June posting about "a certain conservative anti-gay northeastern Republican congressman who got into some trouble with the cops a number of years ago for soliciting a male prostitute. And if it is English, does this refer to the funny business in Erie or the funny business in Harrisburg?

But the anti-gay mania-- often a cover for closet cases trying to throw off suspicions-- is apparent in his viciously homophobic voting record, identical to the gay-bashing voting records of other Republican closet queens in the House like David Dreier (CA), Mark Foley (FL) and Jim McCrery (LA). If Phil English wants to be gay, that should be his right and there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of-- although he should stick to guys over 21 or 18 or whatever the age limit is. But if he wants to get it on with males he should not be using his power in Congress to make the lives of other gay men and women miserable by passing laws designed to put them at disadvantages and make them into second class citizens. Maybe he needs to see a psychiatrist.