Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz (D) resigned on Tuesday after admitting to a consensual yet inappropriate extramarital text messaging relationship with a television anchor, Alaska Public Media reports.
The final straw for Berkowitz was when Ms. Athens boiled his pet rabbit on the kitchen stove.
What is so difficult about NOT getting into a sex scandal when you’re in office? Someone wants to sext with you? Don’t do it. Someone invites you over for a tryst? Don’t go. Seriously, wtf? How is your genitalia more important than your oath of office, your civic duty, your family, your dignity, the well-being of all those you serve? Just keep it in your pants for the length of your term, for fuck’s sake. You can do anything you want with any consenting adult on the day AFTER you’re out of office.
A Republican in similar straits would use the accusations as part of their reelection campaign.
Kinda missing the lede here. Per the New York Times:
Before Ms. Athens posted her video online, the mayor’s office said, she had left a voice message for him. In a copy of that message provided by the office, Ms. Athens can be heard in a furious rant making anti-Semitic references and saying that she would be exposing the mayor as “a pedophile.”
“I’m going to get an Emmy, so you either turn yourself in, kill yourself, or do what you need to do,” Ms. Athens said, according to the audio clip. She then said she would personally kill him and his wife.
Sounds like another brain melted by QAnon.
Well, for now. Once Barrett is confirmed that’s subject to change.
She seems nice…
Ummm…yeah. That counts as a “significant omission.”
I have to say that I take some comfort in the fact that Democrats usually get involved in good old-fashioned sex scandals - sexting, extra-marital affairs, prostitutes, and so on. With Republicans, it’s always massive financial fraud, selling out American interests to murderous dictators, and the like.
I’ll take the sex scandal every time. Far less worrisome, and usually much tougher to identify the victim, if there is one at all.
Fair point. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s just so easy to NOT get into a sex scandal. Financial fraud is so attractive to politicians because of the free yacht that comes along with it. What do you get from a sex scandal other than a couple of hours of physical pleasure and phone full of crazy texts from your ex-lover?
So, what’s the downside? 
While he shouldn’t be sexting this is much much bigger than that. He shouldn’t have resigned, this is straight up revenge porn and death threats.
I’ll have to consult Ben Wa on that one.
It’s a really important life skill to spot these crazy people coming before you get into situations with them. There’s usually some kind of warning bell going off even when it seems OK and you should LISTEN TO THAT BELL.
If you haven’t heard the actual voice mail from dear sweet Maria to the mayor, here it is
It’s worth it
Beat me to it!
Oh my. I suspect management at the station is tapping out one of those “failed to meet the level of professionalism we expect” statements you see in these situations. Yeesh. Like I say, warning bells.
ETA Well whattaya know she got into some kind of altercation with someone at her station (they didn’t air her big story, strangely enough) and was arrested and held in jail over the weekend.
Sounds like an audition tape for Fox & Friends.
Of all the diseases going around, the one that is most avoidable causes the “Carlos Danger” syndrome. Just don’t.
Gosh. She seems a little upset. I hear there are some nice (melting) glacier-fed streams not far out of town. Maybe a quick dip would cool her off.