Visit to topless bar forced married Republican lawmaker to quit

GlobalPost

House Republican leader, Kevin Cameron, who abruptly resigned last month, has confirmed he quit because he feared it would be disclosed that he visited a topless bar while on a golfing trip with colleagues. 

Oregon Live reported that the married Cameron admitted he had visited the late-night bar while on a golfing trip to Palm Springs, California with six other Oregon Republicans in January this year.

He said he quit last month in part because of a threatened disclosure about his presence and that of seven colleagues at a topless bar while on vacation in California earlier this year.

"I am not proud personally about what I did at that point in time," Cameron, R-Salem, told The Oregonian this week. 

No state or campaign money was spent on the trip.

The Daily Mail reported his swift exit also came after his colleague, Rep. Matt Wingard, resigned as deputy leader in June and dropped his bid for another stint in office after a former aide accused him of sexual misconduct.

Wingard, who had also been on the Palm Springs trip, allegedly plied Samantha Berrier, then 20, with alcohol and forced her into an unwanted sexual relationship.

The embarrassing details are surfacing just as Republicans are trying to win majority control of the House, or at least maintain the 30-30 tie that granted them equal power to Democrats in the past two years. 
 

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