Pennsylvania GOP to use Meehan donation to support female candidates

The Pennsylvania Republican Party will use a donation it received from former Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), who resigned after it was revealed he used taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment claim, to support Republican women running for office.

Jason Gottesman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, told Roll Call that Meehan’s $1,000 gift will go toward “our efforts to educate, recruit, and elect Republican women interested in holding public office.”

“This includes bolstering our Anstine Series, which aims to provide Republican women with the background, skill set and network to assume decision-making positions at all levels of government, in the community and in the party structure,” he added.

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Roll Call reported that Meehan had given to several GOP organizations in Pennsylvania after the news broke of the sexual harassment claim against him.

In addition to the $1,000 he contributed to the state GOP, Meehan also gave $2,000 to the Pennsylvania Young Republicans, $3,000 to the Delaware County Republican Party and another $500 to the Montgomery County Young Republicans.

The New York Times reported in January that Meehan had used $39,000 from his office account to settle a former staffer’s sexual harassment claim against him.

Meehan resigned from Congress in April and promised to pay back the money used to settle the harassment claim. He previously said that he would not run for reelection.

The Times reported that Meehan had told the staffer that he was romantically attracted to her after she began seeing a man outside of the office, and that he grew hostile after she did not reciprocate his feelings.

The former lawmaker told Philadelphia news outlets that he thought the woman was his “soul mate.”