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May 19, 2010

GOP Rep. Souder Resigns over Extramarital Affair
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Republican Congress member Mark Souder of Indiana has announced plans to
resign after admitting to an extramarital affair with a part-time
staffer. Souder made the announcement at a teary news conference on
Tuesday.

Rep. Mark Souder: "I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having
a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff. In the
poisonous environment of Washington, DC, any personal failing is seized
upon, twisted for political gain. I am resigning rather than put my
family through a painful, drawn-out process of which any legal question
would have been clearly resolved and I would have been exonerated. But
the political price to pay and the personal of my family was not worth
it."

Souder has repeatedly billed himself as a so-called "family values"
lawmaker. Last year, he appeared along with the staffer with whom he had
the affair in a campaign video promoting abstinence education.



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