Dem lawmaker tweets college co-ed, then deletes messages

by Judy Kurtz and Alexandra Jaffe - 02/13/13 6:31 PM ET

Rep. Steve Cohen repeatedly tweeted, and then deleted, messages to a woman on Twitter who his office is calling “the daughter of a longtime friend” and who has the same name as a Texas State University blonde bombshell featured in a college co-ed calendar.

In a Tuesday night message ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address, a Twitter user named Victoria Brink tweeted to the Tennessee Democrat, “just saw you on tv!”

{mosads}According to a tweet captured by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation’s Politiwoops site, Cohen replied to Brink, “pleased u r watching. Ilu” The tweet was deleted after three minutes.

Both Wikipedia and UrbanDictionary.com define “ilu” as Internet slang for either “I love you” or “I like you.”

In another message sent Wednesday morning, Cohen wrote again to Brink on Twitter: “nice to know you were watchin SOTU (state of the union.) Happy Valentines beautiful girl. Ilu.” That message was deleted within 15 minutes of being posted.

A biography of Victoria Brink on CollegeDozen.com says the 24-year-old, who is seen posing in a turquoise and pink bikini, plans on “moving back to Beverly Hills or Houston to pursue a career in the fashion industry and do modeling on the side,” following her graduation.

Brink writes on the site that she has a 3.0 grade point average and some of her favorite activities include “floating the river at Dons, pool parties, beer-ritas at Chimy’s, and going out on the Square with my friends.”

The 63-year-old lawmaker is a longtime bachelor. He once told The Hill of his early years in the Tennessee state legislature, “Having been out there so long, I used to be on the most eligible bachelors list. I don’t think you get promoted to the emeritus level. I think you become ineligible.”

Cohen’s spokesman, Michael Pagan, tells ITK that his boss and Brink “are pretty much like family.” Adding, “There’s nothing going on there. He actually has a longtime girlfriend in Memphis.”

When ITK pressed Pagan why Cohen was writing “ilu” and wishing the Twitter user a happy Valentine’s Day, he responded, “That I do not know.”

The press secretary explained of the deleted tweets, “He meant to do it as a private message and then he realized he did it publicly.”

Pagan repeated, “There’s nothing inappropriate going on.”

Brink could not be reached for comment.

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